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Ma Dear's Aprons

with audio recording

Illustrated by Floyd Cooper

About The Book

Newbery Honor author Patricia McKissack and Coretta Scott King Award–winning illustrator Floyd Cooper lovingly recreate a slice of turn-of-the-century Southern life for a single black mother and her son in this sweet picture book.

Little David Earl always knows what day of the week it is. He can tell by the clean, snappy-fresh apron Ma Dear is wearing, a different color for every day.

Monday means washing, with Ma Dear scrubbing at her tub in a blue apron. Tuesday is ironing, in a sunshine yellow apron that brightens Ma’s spirits. And so it goes until Sunday, when Ma Dear doesn’t have to wear an apron and they can set aside some special no-work time, just for themselves.

About The Author

Photo Credit:

Patricia C. McKissack is the author of many highly acclaimed books for children, including Goin' Someplace Special, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; The Honest-to-Goodness Truth; Let My People Go, written with her husband, Fredrick, and recipient of the NAACP Image Award; The Dark-Thirty, a Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Award winner; and Mirandy and Brother Wind, recipient of the Caldecott Medal and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

About The Illustrator

Floyd Cooper received a Coretta Scott King Award for his illustrations in The Blacker the Berry and a Coretta Scott King Honor for his illustrations in Brown Honey in Broomwheat TeaMeet Danitra Brown, and I Have Heard of a Land. Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mr. Cooper received a degree in fine arts from the University of Oklahoma and, after graduating, worked as an artist for a major greeting card company. In 1984, he came to New York City to pursue a career as an illustrator of books and now lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, with his wife and children.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (April 22, 2014)
  • Length: 32 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781481418980
  • Ages: 4 - 8

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Awards and Honors

  • CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images

More books from this author: Patricia C. McKissack

More books from this illustrator: Floyd Cooper