"I Lost My Tooth in Africa" By: Penda Diakite

I lost my tooth in Africa is a cute book about family, and the different traditions of other cultures. It's about a family that travels from the US to Africa. They travel to Africa to visit the dad's family. Just as their trip begins the little girl finds out she has a loose tooth, and her dad tells her that if she loses her tooth in Africa she will get a chicken.
The book contains some of the many languages spoken in Mali. At the very back of the book there is a glossary of all the words that are in Bambara, the language the girl speaks when she's in Africa
. It also contains the author's Grandma N'na's goodnight song, and her Aunt Kadja's African Onion Sauce recipe. I really like how the author includes some of her family's culture at the end of the story.
The book shows the different lifestyles and ways of living in Africa through the various pictures. The illustrations were very neat. Each big picture page is surrounded by a boarder. The boarders contain little images that reflect what is going on in the larger picture. For example, when the little girl lost her tooth the boarder had teeth around it. The illustrations are also very colorful, and were created through ceramic tile.
This book really emphasizes the importance of family. It is also very cute because the author's father illustrated this book.