The Red Mother with Child

Gr 9 Up–Alou is a honey hunter in Mali, trying to make a living while dodging the violence of Islamic extremists who harass his community. While coaxing honey from a baobab tree, Alou is attacked, barely escaping with his life. However, in the smoldering remains of the tree, he recovers a 14th-century statuette—the Red Mother with Child. He takes it to his village’s spiritual leader, the Hogon, and learns of the sculpture’s history. Decades earlier, the Hogon stole the statue from French colonizers who were stripping Mali of its ancient artifacts and sending them to the Louvre in Paris. Ironically, providence led the Hogon to Paris as a student, and he is forced to acknowledge that Africa’s artistic heritage can be best preserved with the Louvre’s resources. When the Hogon tells Alou he must take the Red Mother with Child to the museum, Alou encounters the harsh realities that refugees all over the world experience every day. In this eye-opening saga of political and religious unrest, Lax never flinches from the dark past of colonialism in Africa. Though acknowledging the Louvre’s celebrated reputation, he also addresses the undercurrents of xenophobia and racism woven throughout its history. The artwork is craggy, harsh with angles and edges, but somehow graceful and feathery at the same time; it’s a feast for the eyes, with detail in every panel.