Tali and the Toucan by Mira Z. Amiras with illustrations by Cantelle & Burgen Thorne; Oakland, California: The Collective Book Studio © 2024; ISBN 9781685-553258; 32 pages; $18.95; publication date: August 27, 2024.
SAN DIEGO – This book for kindergarteners through 3rd graders is intended to help children overcome their fears. In this case Tali, who wears a hamsa necklace to ward off evil, is afraid to join other children on playground equipment. She’s especially fearful of joining her peers at a martial arts class. The reason? She’s afraid that she will fall and break to pieces.
This is told in free verse. Then Tali has a dream which is told in rhyme. It begins:
That night, I dreamed I was sleeping
in my own little cottage by the sea.
A storm was raging, swirling around.
I heard the pounding of rain through the trees.
She dreams that a chicken pecks its way through the roof of the cottage and then transforms into a colorful toucan. She also is transformed into a toucan, learning how to fly higher than the rooftops. The dream convinces her that she should try, so she goes to the martial arts class, where she succeeds.
The book ends with a pun, which your children might enjoy: “Once I was chicken – Now I too can!”
The illustrations are outstanding showing Tali’s fear of being shattered, her interactions with a chicken and a toucan, and her dreamed transformation. The martial arts class that Tali joins is multiethnic, emphasizing the beauty of diversity.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World