Common Threads: Adam's Day at the Market

by Huda Essa, Mercè Tous (Illustrator)

Overview

2020-2021 Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Award List

Adam and his family spend an exciting day at the colorful and bustling Eastern Market. But when Adam gets briefly separated from Mom and Dad, he mistakes a friendly, diverse cast of characters for his parents in their traditional Muslim clothing—and shows that we all have more in common than you might think. This nearly-wordless picture book celebrates diversity and community in vibrant, dynamic art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534110106
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	08/15/2019
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	125,401
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	50L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 Months to 5 Years

Editorial Reviews

08/30/2019

PreS-Gr 4-Young Adam visits a bustling outdoor market with his parents. He finds himself lost after a bird catches his attention for a few moments, and he starts looking for his parents. Every woman dressed in blue looks like his mother, and every man in yellow looks like his father. Adam mistakes a man's yarmulke for his father's taqiyah and a shopper's kurta for his dad's shalwar kameez. Every adult he mistakes for his parents seems concerned and tries to reunite him with his family. Through his eyes, emotions, and experience, readers see how similar and connected the various shoppers and vendors are despite our apparent differences. With its vivid and detailed pictures and scant text, this book effectively portrays a culturally and religiously diverse community. Everybody can find representation of themselves in the bright pages and relate to the emotions expressed through its characters. This story will give young children an opportunity to read and tell the story that is unfolding in the pictures in their own words. VERDICT A great selection for libraries, this book is an invaluable source for storytelling and interactive reading while highlighting common values as one human family.-Noureen Qadir-Jafar, Syosset Library, NY

School Library Journal

2019-06-23
In this nearly wordless picture book, young Adam wanders away from his parents at the busy outdoor market, but diverse strangers help him find them again.

Brown-skinned Adam wanders through Eastern Market with his mom, a dark-skinned woman wearing a blue hijab and long tunic, and his dad, a light-skinned man wearing a kufi and shalwar kameez. When he spots a scavenging blue jay, he follows it to watch it eat peanuts. He taps a woman from behind, asking, "Isn't it neat, Mama?" But he is surprised when the woman turns around: Although her hair is covered and she wears a long, blue dress, it's a kindly stranger, not his mom. Small vignettes show Adam wandering through the crowd at the adults' waist level, repeatedly mistaking other grown-ups for his parents, often based on similar styles of dress whose variations indicate other cultures (for example, a habit, a head wrap, and a sari). As he keeps searching, the strangers begin searching for his parents too, resulting in a reunion in which all of the adults greet each other warmly. The colorful illustrations invite basic seek-and-find fun as well as offering meaning at a deeper level for readers who want to identify the cultures represented. An afterword titled "Becoming a Cultural Detective" asks readers to consider clothing as just one indication of identity and encourages cultural curiosity but does not identify the clothing and cultures in the book.

A visual feast filled with food for thought. (Picture book. 3-9)

Kirkus Reviews