WELCOME TO THE 7TH ANNUAL
When Joseph and Mama lived in a refugee camp in East Africa, everyone cooked and ate together. And Joseph could always hear someone playing the awal. It’s much too quiet and lonely in his new home. Though Whoosh, the girl who lives upstairs, is friendly, Joseph misses having more people around, especially his grandmother, who still lives across the ocean. So he invites his relatives in the city to come for dinner, then he invites his teacher, then Whoosh and her mami — but everyone is too busy.
Ever hopeful, Joseph picks the last greens from the garden. At least he and Mama will be ready to cook if someone comes. The next night Whoosh and her mami appear at the door with a big cake, and Whoosh and Joseph cook up a feast.
A touching story about adjusting to a new home and the pleasure of cooking and sharing food with friends.
This and the companion book to Joseph’s Big Ride are set in Portland, Maine’s Kennedy Park, where both authors have deep connections.
OD Bonny is a writer, producer and songwriter, as well as an artist of traditional Acholi music and dancehall/Afrobeat. He was born in South Sudan and fled to Uganda with his two older brothers, where they lived in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement. In 2003, they moved to the United States. OD attended the University of Maine in Orono, and he began composing and singing traditional Acholi music. He has toured all around Canada, the US, Australia and Ireland. This is his first book. He lives with his family in Omaha, Nebraska.
Terry Farish is an author of picture books and young adult novels, many influenced by her trip to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and work with the Red Cross in Vietnam. The Good Braider won the New Hampshire Literary Award and the Lupine Award. It was also an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a School Library Journal Best Book. Joseph’s Big Ride, illustrated by Ken Daley, received a Skipping Stones Honor, and The Cat Who Liked Potato Soup, illustrated by Barry Root, won a Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books Blue Ribbon. Terry lives in Kittery, Maine.
Ken Daley is an illustrator who draws inspiration for his work from his African Caribbean roots. He has illustrated: Joseph’s Big Ride by Terry Farish, which received a Skipping Stones Honor Award for International Multicultural Books, and Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings by Francie Latour, an Américas Award Honor Book and a Kirkus Best Picture Book about History and Tradition. He has exhibited his art in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, and his work can be found in numerous private collections. Ken lives in Cambridge, Ontario.
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