Book Description
for Double Trouble for Anna Hibiscus! by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
After Anna Hibiscus’s mother gives birth to twins, one of her cousins notes that two boys can only mean trouble. And it seems to be true. Mama is too tired after they’re born for Anna’s morning cuddle and Uncle Bizi Sunday is too busy cooking for Mama to make Anna’s breakfast. Grandma is sleeping, too, after helping with the birth. The entire family is either too exhausted or too busy to have time for Anna. “It’s not fair!” cries Anna when Papa, hugging her, explains she will now have to share everyone with her brothers. But of course there’s enough time and love to go around. Atinuke’s lively, reassuring story explains how Anna’s baby brothers, Double and Trouble (featured in both the Anna Hibiscus chapter books and a previous picture book), got their names. Anna and her extended, multiracial family (her mom is White, her dad is Black) live together in a large home (where the babies were born) in a contemporary, unnamed city in “amazing Africa.” Lauren Tobia’s lovely illustrations incorporate occasional, eye-catching patterns into wonderfully designed scenes full of warmth. (Ages 2–5)
CCBC Choices 2016. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2016. Used with permission.