Caroline Brewer is an award-winning children's book author, artist, environmentalist, literacy consultant, and creator of Nature-Wise, a program for students and teachers that blends literacy and nature exploration. Caroline is also author and illustrator of Harriet Tubman, Force of Nature and author of Say Their Names. She lives in the Washington, DC, metro area.

Kwasi Asare was born in Nsawam, near the capital city of Accra, Ghana, and is one of Africa's most prominent and accomplished weavers known for kente cloth, the highly prized Ghanaian cloth that traditionally symbolizes royalty, honor, and leadership. For the United Nations' fiftieth anniversary in 1995, he created a new kente cloth design. Until 2017, it replaced the original cloth created by Kwasi's father, A. E. Asare. www.kwasiasare.com

Ekua Holmes was awarded a Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King's John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, Robert Siebert Award, and Boston Globe-Horn Book award for Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, her first illustration project. She won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration twice: Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets and Stuff of Stars. www.ekuaholmes.com

Brewer, Kwasi Asare, and Holmes weave a vibrant folktale in which kente cloth prompts an exploration of artistry's cultural value. In a "hip" metropolis, spider weavers craft kente, a "talking cloth" that "tells a wonderful story." When the residents, including Chief Griot Anansi, begin to favor cheap machine-made fabric, the weavers abandon their looms, causing the once thriving city to lose its color and its verve. After relying on trickery to solve the crisis fails, Anansi, upon his wife's suggestion, gathers the city together in song and celebration, publicly honoring the artisans whose work sustains the community's spirit. Layered, lengthy verse emphasizes collaboration over cleverness, while illustrations rich with patterned textiles and silhouetted brown-skinned human and spider residents leverage the feel of intricate textiles. Steeped in Ghanaian culture and storytelling traditions, this is a thoughtful tribute to the enduring importance of honoring creative labor. Back matter includes creators' notes.
--Publishers Weekly

Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing

Pub date: 2026-08-25

Length: 40 pages