A First Folktale from Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi about the origin of butterflies.
“The Creator wuz all finished and thru makin’ de world. But soon, the Creator finds themselves flying through the sky, making gorgeous butterflies of every color, shape, and size.”
Find out why butterflies were made in Zora Neale Hurston’s stunning and layered African American folktale illustrated by Kah Yangni. Retold by New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning author Ibram X. Kendi, this accessible and sizable board book is perfect for introducing young readers to the beauty of Hurston’s storytelling. The Making of Butterflies will spark curiosity in children about how things in our world came to be.
Caregivers will delight in the cadence, and babies will love the colors Yangni splashes across every page in this reimagined work that leads readers through an urban landscape full of flutter-byes. People of color living in a world of vibrant hues rejoice in Hurston’s butterfly-laden universe. Additional notes explain the story’s origins along with a definition of Ebonics, and other historical highlights sure to delight adults.
The Making of Butterflies is the second in a series of Zora Neale Hurston folktales adapted by Kendi for children. The first book in the series is Magnolia Flower, which follows a young Afro Indigenous girl who longs for freedom.
Born to parents who fled slavery and the Trail of Tears, Magnolia Flower is a girl with a vibrant spirit. Not to be deterred by rigid ways of the world, she longs to connect with others, who too long for freedom. She finds this in a young man of letters who her father disapproves of. In her quest to be free, Magnolia must make a choice and set off on a journey that will prove just how brave one can be when leading with one’s heart.
Tenderly retold by Kendi, Magnolia Flower is a story of a transformative and radical devotion between generations of Indigenous and Black people in America….
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