Kanoni’s Kwanzaa

Contributors

By Hope Anita Smith

Illustrated by Bea Jackson

Formats and Prices

On Sale
Oct 13, 2026
Page Count
40 pages
ISBN-13
9780316341547

Price

$18.99

Price

$24.99 CAD

Format

Hardcover

Format:

Hardcover $18.99 $24.99 CAD

This festive Kwanzaa picture book celebrates the culture, community, and family at the heart of Kwanzaa’s seven principles, for fans of Together for Kwanzaa, by a two-time Coretta Scott King Award Recipient.

When Kanoni receives a kinara for Christmas, she begins to learn about Kwanzaa and prepare for her first celebration. That same night, her neighbor’s home catches fire and burns down. Emboldened by the holiday spirit of giving, Kanoni, with her big heart, pledges to do everything she can to help her friends through this difficult ordeal. Her first Kwanzaa is full of kindness and community—just the way Kwanzaa should be.
 
Through lyrical poems full of holiday warmth, this heartfelt picture book follows Kanoni’s first Kwanzaa and highlights the many different ways to uplift its seven principles.


Hope Anita Smith

About the Author

Hope Anita Smith received a Coretta Scott King Honor for Keeping the Night Watch and the John Steptoe New Talent Award for The Way a Door Closes. She is the co-author of It Rained Warm Bread which was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year and an ALA Notable Book. An accomplished cut-paper-collage artist, Hope wrote and illustrated My Daddy Rules the World which was named an NCTE Notable Poetry Book and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. A professional storyteller and in-school poet, Hope lives in Los Angeles, California.

Learn more about this author