Onajin, Alaba. Case of the Missing Kolo, The. Alaba Onajin, Illus. Korobá; bk.1. Holiday House, 02/2026. 142pp. Graphic. Paper $14.99. 978-0-8234-6251-3. GRADES 3–6. OUTSTANDING.
Solving the mystery of a missing “kolo”—a special piggy bank for an annual festival—provides a fascinating view into a small fishing community in Lagos in this graphic novel by a Nigerian creator, featuring Korobá, a girl of about nine years and her friends. Korobá helps her family by selling fish at the local market, running errands for her mom, and caring for younger siblings. Her curiosity, common sense, kindness, and reasoning skills are echoed by her two friends, and amplified in how they treat the other young characters whose behavior is less ideal. Like the Akissi series (Abouet, Flying Eye Books, 2013–2020) set in the Ivory Coast, this also presents authentic, ordinary life, with a strong feeling of community and a beautifully unique locale. The added dimension of deductive logic with visual clues, as well as the amazingly detailed views of their village on stilts and the children dashing along boardwalks or rowing boats between their houses, creates nuance and delight, especially for readers ages eight to ten. Fine black outlines and smoothly vivid coloring resemble hand-drawn animation, both in dramatic close-ups and in landscapes showing a full world of realistic and culturally specific architecture, clothing, livelihood, and social networks. The unity of text and illustration, being at once entertaining and educational, silly and serious, make this graphic novel stand out for adults as well as for young mystery-solvers, who will be eager for the next volume.
Erica Siskind—Oakland Public Library