THE KINDEST RED

The creators of the bestselling The Proudest Blue (2019) return with a tale of siblings, friendship, and acts of kindness.

For picture day, Faizah wears a red dress that belonged first to Mama and then to her older sister, Asiya. Asiya does Faizah’s hair in puffs, Faizah pins Asiya’s hijab, and, with kind words from Mama, off they go to school, where Faizah finds she matches with her friend Sophie, who has light skin and red hair and is wearing a dress with red roses. Brown-skinned Ms. Ramirez asks the students to imagine the kind of world they want and to draw and label it. Faizah draws a kind world, and Sophie draws a superhero world. Then, at recess and throughout the day, they use their superpowers to make the world kinder, helping other kids and brightening their days. By picture time, everyone in class is smiling. But when it’s time for sibling photos, Faizah is upset to realize that, unlike the other sibling pairs, she and Asiya don’t match. Can her friends find a way to help? Helping others looks fun and rewarding in this sweet tale that empowers readers by showing them their actions can result in a world everyone would want to live in. This much-needed positive representation of a loving Black Muslim family is set within a diverse community, depicted with Aly’s characteristic expressive energy and charm. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A loving and lovely celebration of the many ties—sisterly, friendship, communal—that bind.