"What is a competition?" Africa asks her brother.
"It's where you show what you're made of," he tells her.
And we're off..... after school on Monday, Africa sees a poster that says Double Dutch Competition Sunday. Africa announces to her family that she is going to enter the competition and she is going to fly. The one tiny, teeny, small problem with her plan is that she has never double Dutched before.
All week long Africa asks her bestie best friends how to double Dutch. Turns out none of them can tell her how but happily each one has something wonderful and special they can teach her. She learns to dance and cartwheel and clap to Miss Mary Mack. Each friend has a gift to share with her.
When the Sunday Double Dutch Competition comes, Africa knows how to jump, to fly, to move her feet fast and double Dutch to the sky...'cause that's what she's made of.
Utterly delightful...girls who share and support each other. Girls who give to each other. Girls with a plan. Girls with gifts. Confidence, friendship coming alive and a vibrant African American young lady with the birthmark that leads her forward and who believes in herself with a joy so light and so powerful that it sends her soaring.
40 pages 978-1534454873 Ages 4-9
Keywords: double Dutch, believing in yourself, self confidence, self esteem, friends, friendship, sharing, determination, African American and Black stories, African American author, Black Girl books, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old, 9 year old, perseverance, heritage, family, jump rope, grandmother, competition, self image, self confidence, empowerment, diversity, diverse books
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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Pure joy and the power of community radiate from this sweet picture book about a young Black girl’s perseverance and confidence in following her double Dutch dreams.
Africa’s grandmother was a double Dutch legend, and Africa knows she can become the same. Her brother scoffs when she signs up for a double Dutch competition, though—how can she hope to compete when she’s never done it before? But Africa has all the tools she needs: memories of her grandmother, her bestie Bianca’s dance moves, her friend Omar’s rhythm, and her classmates’ Mary Mack timing and cartwheels.
If Africa can pull everything together to jump some winning moves, she might just fly, but it’s the birthmark in the shape of her name that tells her she’s always been a winner.---from the publisher
