Maxine Beneba Clarke, Fashionista, Lothian Children’s Books, June 2019, 48 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780734418975
Well known as a multi-award winner of adult fiction and non-fiction, this is the author’s third picture book. In this hardback she aims to show that fashion does not have to mean expensive designer clothes. As a child, she felt emboldened in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, while as a teenager she felt beautiful when she wore her mother’s wedding dress..
There is no story per se, rather is a series of statements in which she encourages youngsters to dress in clothes and colours according to their mood, one day perhaps scruffy and relaxed in an old tracksuit, the next dressed in their smartest outfit with hair done and carefully selected shoes. The illustrations have been created from a combination of collage and watercolours. Some of the figures are based on famous personalities including Serena Williams and Prince in his purple jacket. Ages 6-116.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Douglas
