ELIJAH'S EASTER SUIT

ELIJAH'S EASTER SUIT by Brentom Jackson. Illustrated by Emmanuel Boateng.

Typically Easter Sunday is a day that most people take a little more consideration in their church attire (if that's not you, no shame here!). Spring colored items are pulled out of storage or new clothing shopped for as we prepare to celebrate our risen Lord and the arrival of spring.

Elijah's Easter Suit tracks Elijah's search for the perfect outfit. Now, I'm going to put a little pause in here. There is a part of this book that makes me cringe a bit. His desire to do this is because the pastor acknowledges from the pulpit and the church applauds one person who wears something "spectacular." I almost quit the book right there. What kept me going was the remembrance of what his suit looked like on the front cover, so hang on to that picture. Despite searching all over town Elijah cannot find the right suit. When sharing this with some of the older church members they tell him "it's not about winning a competition", but " it's about remembering their culture." These older church elders share about a time they had to make their clothes, because they were not allowed in stores. Armed with this new info, Elijah goes home and collects fabric from memorable people and events in his life and fashions his suit. I think you can guess how the book wraps up from here, but I do want to mention the Author's Notes in the back. He traces the desire to dress up for African Americans back to slave days when Sunday was the only day other clothing could be worn than slave cloth. He goes through segregation when it was difficult to shop in stores and how African Americans overcame the obstacles. Overall it was an interesting look at Easter dress in the African American culture.