Leah’s Mustache Party. Nadia Mike. Illustrated by Charlene Chua. Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media, 2016. 32 pp., hardcover, $16.95. ISBN 978-1-77227-081-5. Preschool-kindergarten / Ages 3-5. Review by Aileen Wortley. *** /4

excerpt:

Many months passed, and Leah’s birthday was just around the corner.

“What would you like to do for your birthday?” Mom asked.

Leah thought about it for a moment, and then she yelled with excitement, “I want to have a mustache party!”

“That sounds like fun,” Mum said. “But what’s a mustache party?”

“It’s a party where everyone has to wear the biggest, best mustache they can!” Leah replied.

Dedicated to “all the silly children with wild imaginations”, this story focusses on a small child’s unusual obsession with wearing a mustache. It all began at Halloween when Leah, preparing to go trick or treating dressed as a pirate, felt something was missing. Definitely a mustache was required so her mother “quickly painted a thin mustache on her chubby little face.” Then Leah really felt the part and proceeded to be a fierce pirate all evening! After Halloween, life without a mustache seemed dull, and so Leah took every opportunity to wear one whenever she could. When her birthday came around, she distributed mustache-shaped invitations, telling friends they must all come to her party complete with their own mustache. Initially puzzled, they soon get into the spirit of things, and Leah has the best party ever.

     Aimed at children aged 3-5, this simple story, with its quirky subject, captures the refreshing vitality of children (a term preferred to the ‘silly children’ of the dedication) and their ability to be caught up in their own imagination. Whimsical, large-eyed children are portrayed in cheerful bright colours, and the portrayal of Leah’s energetic enthusiasm adds sparkle to the text which, in some areas, lacks a sense of suspense and drama.

     Inhabit Media’s aim is to “preserve and promote the stories, knowledge and talent of Inuit and Northern Canada.” The author who considers Nunavut her home has created a story that, through its illustrations, hints at being set in the far north but has a universal theme.

Recommended.

Aileen Wortley, a retired librarian, lives in Toronto, ON.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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