Eli and the Uncles

Eli’s eight uncles live together in one house, and every summer Eli spends a day with them in this gleeful excursion from Madhani and Kheiriyeh. Watercolor, acrylic, and colored pencil illustrations show Eli running toward a house crammed with elaborately bearded uncles, “very big and very tall,” all portrayed with brown skin. Uncle Mahmoud “tells the best stories,” Uncle Salim cooks Eli’s favorite foods, Uncle Hanif sings, Uncle Aman dances, Uncle Riz tells jokes, Uncles Farouk and Aziz argue, and Uncle Nooru naps. Following these events, “eight uncles and one Eli” eat dinner together before Eli heads home. In an epic farewell chain, Eli kisses each uncle, while text details the qualities of their beards. (Uncle Mahmoud’s is “short and nicely groomed”; Uncle Salim’s is “so long and curly that Eli gets a little lost in it.”) It’s an affectionate, rhythmically told sequence that underlines time spent individually and collectively. Ages 3–7. (Nov.)