Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Kwanzaa: With Candles, Community, and the Fruits of the Harvest »

Carolyn B.Otto is the author of more than 20 books, including several award-winning children's non-fiction titles. She has also written poetry and fiction for children and adults. She earned her master's degree from New York University. She now lives in Colorado Springs, CO.

From the Hardcover edition.

With succinct, lively text and beautiful photographs, this book celebrates African-American culture and helps us to understand and appreciate this special holiday. Over the course of seven days, families and friends come together to light the candles that symbolize past and future—and African-American unity. We gather as a community to make music and to dance; to feast on harvest foods and the good things of the earth; and to exchange simple, often homemade gifts. Readers are introduced to the symbols of the holiday, such as the mkeka (a special placemat), kinara (candleholder), and kikombe cha umoja (unity cup). Important concepts, like the seven principles, are explained.