The small white child in this picture book feels alien when his family returns to America. He can’t wait to go back to the warm African village where he ran free with his friends under a wide sky…. His close friend, Yekha, calls him Achimwene. “ Little brother”. She’s darker than he is, even though he’s suntanned but their tongues are the same color, and when he leaves, he tells her Ndizabweronso, “ I will come back” And he does…. The joyful text and Cooper’s boldly drawn, glowing oil-wash pictures evoke the intensely physical experience of the small child, his delight in the place and culture, what it feels like to belong there. To Peter, it’s Americans who talk funny.