Happy Birthday, Jamela!

It's very realistic, and very loving and sweet. Jamela needs new shoes to go with her new birthday dress. Well, shoes are expensive, so her mother sensibly nixes the pretty white ones in favor of the black ones suitable for school. Guess who's not happy about that? Of course, nothing is too much of an obstacle for a kid with a bright idea. She'll just make her school shoes pretty! Now her mother's the unhappy one, right? Luckily, there's a happy ending - Jamela makes more of her special shoes, sells them at a profit, gives the money to her mom to pay her back for the ruined school shoes, and gets new school shoes for her birthday (she was politely "surprised") and... the not-so-sensible white ones as a *real* surprise. I can see this happening in my own life, too. It's very true-to-life, I can't recommend it enough.

My kids just love Jamela. It is so good for kids to read about children in other countries. Children without hundreds of toys and endless pressure on them, but with a loving family and community where fun things happen. We also enjoyed "christmas" and Yebo Jamela.

my granddaughter and I have read this book a dozen times since Christmas, when Santa brought her the book. She has taken it to school to share with the other girls. It is a total joy. It would have been even better, it there would have been a little explanation of the country the story was taking place in.