An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children x Jamaica Kincaid, Kara Walker (illus.) (DRC)

96 pages.

Expected publication date: May 7, 2024 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Non-fiction.

Not sure what to expect, I went into this book excited to see the words of one of my favourite writers, Jamaica Kincaid, and the illustrations of an artist I respect, Kara Walker. I was delighted on the one hand, and very disappointed on the other.

The text is grimly, wonderfully snarky (although, truly, is it snark if it’s true?). My favourite is on Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud:

This poem became canonical in the education of children who were subjects of the British Empire. For the most part, these children were native to places where a daffodil would be unable to grow and so would never be seen by them.

because of course I learnt that poem as a child and ongoing project of the British Empire, and can still recite parts of it. I’ve never seen a daffodil 🥲

However. Sadly. Walker’s distinctive cut-paper silhouettes, the style I know her for, are only on the cover :((( Inside, the illustrations are all watercolour, and not the kind of watercolour I like. So that was a real letdown for me.

Still. This is brilliant for what it is: satire presented as a children’s book, a kind of gothic nursery book. I haven’t read anthying like this before; it’s wonderfully, refreshingly original, particularly because it turns the usual perspective on its head. Pick it up for this, and delight in it as I did.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and to NetGalley for early access.

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