SMALL-GIRL TONI AND THE QUEST FOR GOLD, by Giselle Anatol and Raissa Figueroa, Viking Books for Young Readers, Dec. 26, 2023, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 4-8)
Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold, by Giselle Anatol and Raissa Figueroa, is a tall tale inspired by the life and works of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.
Young Toni knows that her stories are going to change the world. She’s good at spinning a yarn, and in fact, she thinks she might be able to spin her stories into gold if she tries hard enough. Maybe her stories can even lead her to buried treasure?
And so Toni sets out on a quest for gold with her siblings, telling tales and looking for a little magic at every turn. But when her quest doesn’t go quite as planned, Toni realizes that it’s all about how you tell a story in order to find the perfect ending.
Literary scholar Giselle Anatol and Coretta Scott King honoree Raissa Figueroa have crafted a wholly original tale inspired by the life and works of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. —Synopsis provided by Viking Books for Young Readers
Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold takes readers into a land of imagination. Author Giselle Anatol includes nods to words and imagery from Morrison’s works into the story. It kind of becomes a little bit of a treasure hunt for grownups who have read Morrison’s Beloved, Song of Solomon or The Bluest Eye.
But Anatol doesn’t just rely on Morrison’s words, her own text is warm and full of imagery. It’s fun to follow along her imagined adventures. Artist Raissa Figueroa takes Anatol’s words and runs with them, creating illustrations that are full of life and expression.
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