Name: Story about Afiya
ISBN: 9781911373452

James Berry

Anna Cunha

Story about Afiya

Briar's Reviews

A Story about Afiya by James Berry is a sweet, little book to read to your children.

We meet Afiya as she's dancing in her white dress. We watch her participate in her life, going through sunflower fields and washing her clothes. Her memories of all of the adventures of her day get put onto her dress, until she comes home and it turns white again. We'll follow her in this book as she does marvelous, little things that will paint beautiful, little pictures.

This felt like a very mythical story. We watch as Afiya's surroundings affect her dress in beautiful, illustrated patterns. Tigers and flowers and fish, oh my! This book is more metaphorical and symbol based that plot driven, but that's okay! I thought it was absolutely stunning and beautiful. We don't always need an adventure to make the story good.

My biggest positive of this book (other than the beautiful symbolism) is that I learned that Afiya is a Swahili name that means health. It's a beautiful name! 

My only potential negative is that young readers won't appreciate the symbolism, but I don't think they'll need to. This is just a sweet, pretty story.

Four out of five stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Myrick Marketing and Media for an opportunity to read this little gem of a book!