Jamela's Dress

Jamela (who must be about the age of five) set herself to the task of watching her mother's fabric for her new party dress.

Buuuuut... well... she got a little carried away taking it to show everybody. And the fabric is ruined. There's a bit of a contrived happy ending, though I guess children mightn't realize it.

I love how realistically Jamela is portrayed. Volunteering to keep the fabric safe and the forgetting is *exactly* how children act. And I like that "Even Jamela was cross with Jamela" at the end - children really can be their own harshest critics. But what I really love is the final sequence - armed with new fabric, Jamela's mother (clearly having learned her lesson) stays with her and sings and plays as the fabric dries on the show more clothesline, and then she makes a dress for her daughter. It's clear how much they love each other, and it just sends warm fuzzy feelings everywhere. show less

Perfectly South African, and perfectly universal. Lively, funny, with a big crisis and a happy resolution, and an author's note that, unfortunately, is half-covered by my library's binding (still, I get the gist, and it is a good one to share with older children).

I honestly tried to talk myself into giving this only four stars, but I cannot find a flaw in it. Just a gem, and would be even if it weren't for the multi-cultural setting.

I will continue to read more from my latest discovery, the amazing & under-appreciated [a:Niki Daly|123899|Niki Daly|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png].

Niki Daly writes about a young girl named Jamela who goes to a shop with her mother to pick out material for a dress to wear to Thelma’s wedding. They pick out a gorgeous and expensive material and go home and wash it together. As the material is drying outside, Jamela looks after it and admires it. Jamela eventually decides to wrap herself up in the material and strut around town in it. People admire Jamela and the beautiful material and even call her “Kwela Jamela African Queen.” A photographer named Archie decides to snap a picture of Jamela and the gorgeous material. Throughout Jamela’s outing the material gets dirty and destroyed and when her mother discovers this she is extremely upset considering she no longer has show more anything to wear at Thelma’s wedding. Jamela feels awful about it and does not know what to do until she runs into Archie. The photo he snapped of her ended up being a prize-winning one, so Jamela and Archie buy some new material for Jamela’s mother. She is so pleased that she even decides to make Jamela a dress out of the material as well. I really enjoyed this book! I could not help but think of Jolene from Mister and Me while reading this book even though the circumstances were different. Even though Jamela made a very bad decision, I got the feeling that she only had good intentions and was just trying to be like her mother. The fact that she is wearing larger shoes, that looked to be her mothers, at the beginning of the book brought this thought to me. I really like how detailed the illustrations were and how they added to the story. show less

When her mother buys material to make a new dress for a friend's wedding, Jemela falls so in love with the beautiful fabric that she wraps it around herself and parades throught the street. But this is a busy neighborhood and on the way the fabric gets ruined. What will mama do?
Warm and earthy illustrations complement this wonderful story. Filled with images of modern South African street scenes, as well as Nguni works, children everywhere will love the story and identify with its heroine. Kwela Kwela!

The plot revolves around a little girl who accidentally ruins her mother's special fabric, which kids will recognize as a good girl who did something bad but isn't bad herself. Demonstrates that if a mistake can be fixed, then sometimes it turns out even better than if there was no accident at all.

Jamela is a clever, spirited little girl who happens to live in South Africa. When she falls in love with her mother's new dress fabric, trouble ensues. My daughter and I loved Jamela, and Daly's pictures and text present Africa in a positve and realistic way.

I like Jamela!!.. She's got spunk. She gets into trouble but is smart enough to find her way out of it. My daughter and I really like the way Daly illustrates his books. Fun and easy on the eyes. Who doesn't like a happy ending?