Jabari 's Big Family

About the Book

Kathleen Ettienne conveys to young readers the invaluable and unbreakable bond of family ties, one that defies distance and divorce. This is an international family reunion marvelously illustrated. The book tells about the joys of childhood, travel and family bonding. In this exquisite and vibrantly illustrated picture book, we will follow Jabari as he travels from his home, the idyllic tropical island of Trinidad and Tobago, to meet his extended family members in America, specifi cally New York and Brooklyn. Jabari explores the Big Apple and experience life in the big city, Through Jabari’s journey, readers will learn the importance of family values, how they surpass the boundaries between nations and the breakup of divorce, even as he experiences the wonder of exploring new places. Ettienne hopes to show her readers the importance of maintaining the family bond even when divorced for the sake of the children.

About the Author

Deeply affected by her father’s passing, Kathleen Ettienne is determined to maintain the rich family teaching her mom shared with her and her three other siblings. With the full support of her mother, Ettienne has always reached for her dreams. In the late 1980s, Ettienne migrated to the U.S. and studied at the esteemed Pratt Institute School of Design. She then went on to work for several well-known architectural fi rms. Today, Ettienne directs Blacklines of Design, a quarterly online design publication from a Brooklyn-based offi ce. Ettienne lost her baby sibling at the young age of 31, same as her father. That brought her and her two brothers closer than they were before. “Family is very signifi cant to me,” she says. Ettienne feels that she is the privileged one to have encountered her extended children as she has learned how to love her extended children just as much as the ones she carried in her womb.