The specified ages are suggestions, but feel free to make the final call on whatever works best for you and your kids!

Granny’s Kitchen by Sadé Smith, illustrated by Ken Daley (Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends, 2022)

Who’s it for?  The yardie foodie
Ages: 3-8 years old

{https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgw4oggOea5/?hl=en}

Shelly-Ann wants to cook for granny and get in touch with her Jamaican roots with a touch of Patois. Daley’s vibrant illustrations dazzle the eyes and remind me of the jewel-toned hypercolour communities scattered through the hills of Jamaica. A winning combo for debut author Sadé Smith.

C is for Carnival by Yolanda T. Marshall, illustrated by Daria Lavrova (Chalkboard Publishing, 2021)

Who’s it for?  The junior masquerader
Ages: 3-8 years old

{https://www.instagram.com/p/CfjGgRsuX7Z/?hl=en}

A picture book celebration by prolific author Yolanda T. Marshall. A delightful, colourful, and comprehensive guide to all things Caribbean Carnival and Emancipation Day. A bonus: this is an alphabet book that rhymes with rich vocabulary and details.

Malaika’s Costume (2016),  Malaika’s Winter Carnival (2017), and Malaika's Surprise (2021) by Nadia L. Hohn, illustrated by Irene Luxbacher (Groundwood Books, also available in French)

Who’s it for?  Those who love a good series
Ages: 4-8 years old

{https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgiq1YLgdcI/?hl=en}

Journey with Malaika–a creative, resourceful, and brilliant girl–through three books about Carnival, immigration, family, and change told in Caribbean patois and standard English. Malaika’s Costume was the 2021 TD Grade One Book Giveaway, distributed to over 550,000 students across Canada. In early 2023, the fourth installment of this award-winning series, Malaika, Carnival Queen, will bring a revelation and celebration.

I Promise by Catherine Hernandez, illustrated by Syrus Marcus Ware (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2019)

Who’s it for?  The family reunion
Ages: 3-8 years old

{https://www.facebook.com/catherinehernandezcreates/videos/i-promise-reading-by-catherine-hernandez/346374842912875/}

A beautiful, endearing, and poetic story. The dreamy illustrations celebrate diverse families. From the publisher’s website: “Every queer family starts with the sacred promise to love a child.”

Race with Me by Andre De Grasse and Robert Budd, illustrated by Joseph Osei Bonsu (Scholastic, 2021, also available in French)

Who’s it for?  Those watching track and field events at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
Ages: 6-10 years old

{https://www.instagram.com/p/CReDyIQg93c/?hl=en}

This book is on my to-be-read list (TBR). Here is an excerpt from the publisher’s website: Lace up your shoes and get ready for race day with Canada’s 2019 Athlete of the Year, Andre De Grasse! Find out what it was like for him as an underdog and how he motivates himself to face every challenge in this inspiring celebration of sport.

Beatrice and Croc Harry by Lawrence Hill (HarperCollins Canada, 2022)

Who’s it for? The dreamer planning to change the world
Ages: 8-12 years old

{https://www.instagram.com/p/CYmVA7Bp90K/?hl=en}

I imagine this book as Alice in Wonderland, Brown Girl Dreaming, and the Wizard of Oz shadowed by racial violence, integration, and racial identity circa 1950 to 2021—a journey of epic proportions. Told in vibrant language interspersed with eccentric, unconventional vocabulary from The St. Lawrence Dictionary of Only the Best Words Real and Concocted, the intelligent, assertive but amnesic Beatrice pieces together clues that hint at her origins and lead her home. Want more Lawrence Hill? Check him out at the Love of Literature Event on August 13.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic, 2007)

Who’s it for?  The Black Canadian history buff
Ages: 8-12 years old

{https://www.instagram.com/p/CL1rRowpvf3/?hl=en}

Emancipation Day celebrations, renamed sites, and new plaques are being unveiled at various Canadian Black history sites. In this spirit, the fresh voice of Elijah, the first free-born member in his community of enslaved refugees, the reader can easily forget that this story is set almost two hundred years ago. His adventures take place in a real-life community near Chatham, Ontario, which you can visit at the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum this summer.

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield (Macmillan/Wednesday Books, 2021)

Who’s it for?  Those celebrating Jamaica’s 60th Independence in Canada
Ages: 13-17 years old

{https://www.instagram.com/p/COhWXishOqC/?hl=en}

Join Tilla and her younger sister Mia who have stepped off the plane and entered the humid, earthy countryside in a Jamaican summer to visit their father. This compelling audiobook is narrated by debut author, actress and singer Asha Bromfield. The setting and the cast of characters are entertaining, authentic, and intriguing, weaving in subjects like class differences, family drama, and sexual assault. As cool as the mist of a waterfall and as brutal as the gust of a hurricane, Bromfield’s Jamaica is raw and rugged, revealing the bitter with the sweet.