- Paperback: 32 pages
- Publisher: Orchard Books (Mar 1 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0531300048
- ISBN-13: 978-0531300046
- Product Dimensions: 26.9 x 23.9 x 0.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 422 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,920,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2. A picture book that tells a story about a black family as it provides an introduction to West African culture. Aunt Phoebe, a wise and seasoned traveler, tells her niece, Amber, about the adinkra cloth and how it is meant to be used. In this way, the woman helps the girl understand another culture and how their family is related to it. Mitchell's rich and colorful oil paintings realistically portray African carvings and cloths, particularly the adinkra cloth made by the Ashanti people of Ghana. Through the illustrations, Mitchell shows the relationship between Aunt Phoebe and Amber's father. Aunt Phoebe, through her travels and knowledge, keeps traditions alive by passing them on to the younger generation, despite the seeming ambivalence of her brother. However, his angry looks and body language are never discussed in the text, and children may not realize why he seems so stern and unhappy. Still, this is a solid story about traditions, culture, and knowledge, told within the context of family.?Carol Jones Collins, Montclair Kimberley Academy, NJ
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 4^-7. Amber's aunt Phoebe's apartment is full of "things and things and things." Aunt Phoebe also knows things and has stories to tell about the African items that fill her home. Especially intriguing to Amber is the adinkra cloth from Ghana, which is covered with symbols; Aunt Phoebe calls it a talking cloth. Amber loves to pretend she is an Ashanti princess when she is draped in the cloth, and she thinks of all those who have worn an adinkra before her. When Amber's father tells her she will have to grow before she can really wear the long cloth, Aunt Phoebe says, "This child just grew an inch or two inside" learning about her African heritage. Mitchell provides a fine mix of history, family, and daydreams in Amber's story. The oil paintings are set against a background of pure white, giving the book a cool crispness. The many patterns and symbols that appear throughout the story work particularly well against the unadulterated pages. Ilene Cooper
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Adinkra cloth, May 6 2007
By M. Whipp - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Talking Cloth (Library Binding)
A delightful children's book that explains the West African Adinkra cloth and the meanings of the colors and symbols.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful read on a number of levels, Oct 23 2004
By D. Mooney "teacher / mom" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Talking Cloth (Paperback)
This book is great. I bought it based on the beautiful illustrations and skimming the words, thinking it would be a nice addition to my literacy library for kindergarten. Once I got the book home as usual I first read it to my 2-year-old. Showing a much greater attention span than normal, she listened raptly to the whole thing, viewing pictures, then said, "Again!" The illustrations in this book indeed are a great highlight. They make a reader feel they can step right into the scenes of the story and talk with the people, feel the cloth. Also, the dialogue between the characters is lively, and the story of the adinkra cloth teaches a whole cultural custom from beginning to end. When Amber dreams of being an Ashanti princess, or sees her whole family wearing the cloths as Ashanti people, her imagination is exciting to children, who begin to imagine themselves in different cultures and contexts as well. I like the way the book connected Amber and her family to their cultural traditions in a way that made for an interesting story, but also, provided knowledge about a custom we may not otherwise know. The only thing I do not like about the story, and which continues to give me pause every time I read it to a new child, is the way Aunt Phoebe and Amber's dad's (Phoebe's brother) relationship is portrayed. Amber's dad makes negative comment after negative comment in the book about Aunt Phoebe's collections of cultural heritage, and we have to wait quite long before we learn he really likes drinking mocha and listening to stories too. And we never really learn why this tension exists, so it is just out of nowhere in an otherwise positive story for young children. I feel sensitive to it because in a story of African Americans, to have the only male, the father, being negative about so much for no contextual reason seems to harken back to criticsms I have read about African American males being portrayed in negative roles in literature and film (Color Purple, Waiting to Exhale). With the latter, I think context was there. In this story, since it is for children and very short, if we can't figure out why Amber's dad is unhappy, maybe that part doesn't need to be in an otherwise enriching, positive, and wonderful story.
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Adinkra themed children's book, Mar 23 2009
By The Delite Rancher - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Talking Cloth (Library Binding)
In "The Talking Cloth," a girl accompanies her family to Aunt Phoebe's. It quickly becomes clear that while the protagonist's family is square, her aunt is hip. The girl looks up to Aunt Phoebe as she is educated, artistic and worldly. While exploring the aunt's neat things, the girl notices an Adinkra cloth. The aunt unwraps the cloth and tells the story of the celebrated cloth. There is a brief description of the colors and symbols. An explanation is given for two popular symbols, Gye Nyame and Obi nka Obie. By the end of the story, the family comes together, united around the cloth. The visit is a warm, heritage friendly experience. The representation of Adrinka is bit odd. Adinkra means "separation" or "farewell"' which is why it is typically worn at funerals. Depicted as if it were Kente cloth, it is described as an all-purpose Afrocentric celebration and the darker side of the cloth is only mentioned. In Ghana, one would be hard pressed to find anybody wearing an Adinkra cloth outside of a funeral and the colors are almost always black ink on black cloth or red on black (see the pictures I placed in the image gallery for this product). While Rhonda Mitchell explores the rainbow colors of contemporary cloths, they are typically for tourists. This feedback is mostly nitpicking since "The Talking Cloth" is for the most part accurate and socially affirmative. The pictures are attractive and the reading level is best for second graders. This is a valuable read given the lack of similar books. So it is especially tragic that the book is out-of-print. At the time of review, some of Amazon's marketplace sellers were offering this book for ridiculous prices but a few copies could still be had for reasonable prices. (I mean really, $224.95 for a used copy?! You can buy an Adrinkra cloth for that much!) On a related side note, the Westerner can watch the making of a cloth on the "Arts of Ghana" DVD. While Adrinkra literally means farewell, out-of-print has the same meaning, so get "The Talking Cloth" while you can.
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