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 Chapter 1: Anna Hibiscus on Holiday
Chapter 2: Auntie Comfort
Chapter 3: Anna Hibiscus Sells Oranges
Chapter 4: Sweet Snow

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Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. In a country called Nigeria.
She lives in an old white house with balconies and secret staircases. A
wonderful house in a beautiful garden inside a big compound. The trees are
full of sweet ripe fruit and the flowers are full of sweet juicy nectar because
this is Africa, and Africa can be like this. Outside the compound is the city.
An amazing city of lagoons and bridges and roads, of skyscrapers and
shantytowns.
Anna Hibiscus lives with her mother, who is from Canada; her father,
who is from Africa; her grandmother and her grandfather; her aunties and
her uncles; lots and lots of cousins; and her twin baby brothers, Double and
Trouble.
There are so many people in Anna’s family that even she cannot count
them all.
 Anna Hibiscus is never lonely. There are always cousins to play and fight
with, uncles and aunties are always laughing and shouting, and her mother
or father and grandmother and grandfather are always around.
To be alone in Anna Hibiscus’s house, you have to hide. Sometimes Anna
squeezes into some cool, dusty, forgotten place and waits for that exciting
moment when her family begins to call—and then a cousin or uncle finds
her and her aunties thank God!
 One day, Anna’s mother told the family that in Canada she grew up in a
house with only her mother and her father.
<What!= cried Auntie Grace. <All alone? Only the three of you?=
<Yes, and I had a room all of my own,= Anna’s mother said wistfully.
Anna’s grandmother looked at her. <Dey made you sleep alone?= she
asked.
<It was not a punishment,= Anna’s mother said. <It was a good thing to
have my own room.=
Anna Hibiscus and her cousins looked at each other. Imagine! Sleeping
alone. Alone in the dark!
<Nobody likes to sleep alone,= said Anna’s grandmother.
Anna Hibiscus laid her warm brown cheek on her mother’s white arm.
<Don’t worry, Mama,= she said. <You have all of us now. You will never be
alone again.=
But the next week, Anna’s father said, <Anna Hibiscus, we are going on
holiday. Your mother and myself with you and those brothers of yours. We
will stay in a house on the beach.=
<Only us?= asked Anna. This was incredible.
<Only us,= said her father. <A quiet holiday.=
Anna Hibiscus’s mother smiled.
<But, Papa,= said Anna, <who is going to cook and shop and clean and . .
. everything? Who will take care of Double Trouble? What about me? Who
will I play with?=
<I will help your mother to organize everything,= Anna’s father told her.
<You, Anna Hibiscus, will take care of your brothers. You can play with
them.=
<But they are babies!= wailed Anna.
<Exactly!= said her father. <Now, enough problems. Let us pack.=
One week later, Anna Hibiscus, her father, her mother, Double and
Trouble, and all their boxes and bags crossed the road to the lagoon and
squeezed themselves into a small canoe. The whole family waved them off.
<Don’ stay long!= they shouted. <Come soon!=
The lagoon ran under and alongside busy roads and huge skyscrapers; it
ran through markets bigger than towns. For the first time, Anna Hibiscus
saw how big the city was. It was gigantic.
 Then it was gone.
Suddenly it was not buildings but trees that crowded the banks of the
lagoon. Trees so tall and growing so thick together that Anna could not see
into the dark rain forest. Only once did she see some people, looking tiny,
on the bank.
Morning turned into afternoon turned into evening as they went slowly-
slowly. Then Anna could see the island! A white sandy beach with small
trees and, behind them, an open wooden house, painted white.
It was late by the time they got all their boxes and bags off the boat and
up to the beach house. Anna Hibiscus’s father lit lanterns, and her mother
warmed up food. They were all so tired from breathing sea breezes and
carrying boxes and bags that they went straight to bed. Even Double and
Trouble slept right through till morning.
When Anna and her family woke up, the beach house seemed dusty and
dirty. It was full of cobwebs and dead cockroaches. Their boxes and bags
were still packed. They were hungry. There was a lot to do.
 After breakfast, Anna was put in charge of Double Trouble. They stayed
downstairs on the veranda, where it was cool and shady, but the boys kept
crawling toward the edge. There were no doors for Anna to shut. She ran
backward and forward, grabbing each of her brothers in turn and putting
them back in the middle of the room.

She was hot and sweating when at last she attached the boys to a table leg
with her mother’s scarf. They yelled and screamed. Anna’s father came
running.
 <Anna Hibiscus!= he said. <They are not goats!=
He untied them and watched them crawl quickly toward the edge of
the veranda.
<I see.= He sighed. <Double Trouble!=
He called to Anna’s mother. <I’m taking Anna Hibiscus and Double
Trouble to the beach. Where they cannot fall off any edge.=
 Anna’s mother appeared in the kitchen doorway. There was a smudge on
her face and cobwebs in her hair.
<OK,= she sighed.
At the beach, the boys wanted to crawl into the sea. The waves shot up
their noses and splashed salt water in their eyes. They spluttered and choked
and coughed.
 Anna’s father took them to play under the trees. <You go and
splash yourself, Anna Hibiscus,= he said. <I will stay here with your
brothers.=
Anna was not at all sure about splashing in the sea by herself. What if
one of those big waves came along and drowned her? There would be no
uncle or auntie to save her.
She put one toe in the water, but there were no cousins to be brave with.
 Anna Hibiscus could hear Double and Trouble shouting and struggling.
They wanted to crawl back into the water. They were not afraid.
Anna’s father dug a big hole in the sand. Big enough for Double and
Trouble to sit in and play. Too deep for the boys to climb out.
 <You stay with them now, Anna,= said her father. <I am going to swim.=
Double and Trouble cried and screamed. They rubbed sand into their eyes
and screamed louder. Anna sat with them in the hole. Her father’s head was
a black ball in the waves. A black ball getting smaller and smaller.
Just before it disappeared, it began to grow big again. Anna’s father swam
back with an idea.
He and Anna Hibiscus lifted the boys out of the hole and pointed them in
the direction of the sea. Anna and her father ran down to the waves with
Double Trouble crawling eagerly behind them. They had time to splash
and swim a little before the boys reached the water. Then Anna and her
father helped them paddle before carrying them back up to the trees to start
again. Double Trouble loved it! Anna Hibiscus and her father did this many,
many, many times—until they were too tired to do it anymore.
 Back at the beach house, Anna Hibiscus’s mother was tired too. She had
swept up all the cockroaches. She had dusted away all the cobwebs. She
had unpacked all the boxes and bags. She had walked all the way to the
market to buy food and walked all the way back. She had cooked the food.
Everybody was cranky and tired. Everybody was hot and sticky.
Everybody had a shower, ate food, and went to bed early. Everybody was
asleep in one second.
Half an hour later, Double and Trouble woke up.
 They were again hot and sticky. Their teeth were paining them. They
were Awake and Angry. Anna Hibiscus’s mother and father walked the baby
boys up and down for hours while they screamed.
Anna Hibiscus lay in her bed. She had nobody to sleep with.
She missed her aunties. She missed how they took it in turns to rock
sleepless babies. She missed how they sang and talked and made jokes and
laughed no matter how loud the babies cried. Now Anna could hear only the
waves and her brothers, screaming.
 The next morning, Anna Hibiscus’s father was so tired he could hardly
speak. Anna Hibiscus’s mother was so tired she cried. The boys were Full
of Life! They crawled everywhere, fast. Double pulled the tablecloth, and
cups of tea spilled and rolled off the table onto the floor. Trouble crawled
off the veranda and landed with a big bump on his head.
 Anna’s mother said, <I can’t face it.=
<You don’t have to face it,= Anna’s father said. And he sent her back to
bed.
He watched Anna trying to stop her brothers from crawling off the
veranda. He remembered yesterday. He could not face it either.
 Anna Hibiscus’s father found the scarf and attached Double Trouble to
the table leg. He set Anna to watch them.
<I go come,= he said.
<Where?= asked Anna.
<I go to fetch aunties quick-quick,= he said.
Anna Hibiscus smiled a big smile.
Later that morning, the aunties arrived. Six of them. They came with
baskets of food. They came with little cousins who still needed them but no
big cousins. They came with cuddles for Anna Hibiscus and many, many
questions. When they saw Double and Trouble attached to the table leg,
they shouted and ran to free them. Each boy was tied onto an auntie’s
back to keep him out of mischief. They went into the kitchen and started to
cook. Good smells spread all around, along with laughing and singing.

Anna’s mother woke up. She stood blinking at the top of the stairs. She
looked as if she did not know whether to laugh or to cry.
 <Sister!= one of the aunties called. <Our brother confused your babies
with the goats and tied them to the table!=
Anna’s mother started to laugh and to cry. She came to greet the aunties.
They embraced her.
<It is not good to be alone,= Anna heard them whisper. <We have to help
each other. A husband and three children is too much for one woman
alone.=
That night, everybody was happy.
The next day, the aunties and Anna Hibiscus’s mother cooked
and cleaned and washed clothes because they needed to. They splashed in
the sea and sat talking on the beach because they were on holiday. They
sang and joked because they were together.
And all the time, the little cousins were under their feet. Anna Hibiscus
tried to play with them, but they were babies and she could not look after
them all. There were no big cousins to distract them and no one else for
them to follow around. The little cousins whined and howled. They grizzled
and growled. Because that’s what little children do. Anna Hibiscus was fed
up with them.
By the end of the day, the aunties and Anna Hibiscus’s mother had
had enough.
Back at the beach house, they looked at Anna’s father. <Today you sit
down,= they said. <Tomorrow you supervise this rabble!=
Anna Hibiscus’s father looked at the rabble. He’d had a lovely quiet day
eating the delicious food that the women had prepared and reading his
newspapers. The rabble was snotty and sticky and cranky. They scratched
one another and pulled each other’s hair.
<Tomorrow I will be here,= he said. Then he quickly walked out of the
house and disappeared down toward the beach.
 Tomorrow he was there. He was there, and all the big cousins that had
been left behind were there to help him.
Anna’s father supervised the big cousins supervising the little cousins
over the top of his newspaper. The aunties and Anna’s mother laughed and
sighed and shook their heads.
 Anna Hibiscus splashed and swam and ran and played with all her
cousins. It was the best day so far.
That night, the women talked and joked together. The babies slept. The
big cousins played their big-cousin games. Anna’s father sat alone. He had
no one to discuss the newspapers with, no one to smoke his pipe with.
Anna came and laid her cheek on his knee.
<I am outnumbered, Anna Hibiscus,= he said.
 <You need the uncles,= she said.
The next morning, the uncles were there! The women shrieked with
surprise and laughed. Anna’s father looked very pleased with himself.
 It was another good day and another good night.
But there came a day when everybody was annoyed and irritated.
Nobody could agree. Anna’s mother looked at Anna’s father. He
disappeared down toward the beach.
When he returned, Grandmother and Grandfather were with him.
Grandmother and Grandfather had lived so long, they had become so wise
and so calm that anybody who was with them was happy to accept their last
word on everything. There was no need to quarrel. Harmony was restored.

Anna Hibiscus splashed in the sea with her big cousins; she chased her
little cousins along the beach; she sang with her aunties and ate their good
food; she laughed with her uncles and her father. She listened to
Grandmother and Grandfather tell stories.
All together again, Anna Hibiscus’s family had the happiest holiday they
had ever had.
And Anna’s mother? She had a very happy holiday too.
OceanofPDF.com
Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. In a country called Nigeria.
She lives in a big white house with many rooms and balconies. She lives
with her family, who does things the African way. Grandmother and
Grandfather, who are very old and very wise, say it is important to do things
the proper African way.
All of Anna Hibiscus’s family—her mother and her father, her aunties
and her uncles, her cousins and Anna herself—bend their knees to
Grandmother and Grandfather and the other elders to show proper respect
for their wisdom and their age.
Anna’s big cousins go to school and university, but they also work hard
at home helping to wash the clothes, cook the food, and look after the little
cousins.
Anna’s mother and father and aunties and uncles drive to work in their
cars. They send text messages and emails around the world and call from
the market on their cell phones to see what shopping needs doing. But the
clothes they wear are made from colorful African cloth, waxed and dyed
and printed. The languages they speak are African as well as English.
 Even Anna Hibiscus’s mother, who is from Canada, does things the
proper African way. Anna has seen her in photos, when she was young,
wearing a bikini. Now she wears buba and wrappa like the aunties—and has
a suitable swimsuit like they do.
When Anna’s mother comes home from the office, she pounds yam and
cassava in the yard with the aunties. She cooks traditional food the
traditional way—and she knows how to eat it properly with her fingers too!
 You see, the whole family does things the proper African way,
both modern and traditional. That is why Anna’s grandmother and
grandfather, her mother and her father, her aunties and her uncles, her
cousins and her baby brothers—and Anna herself—all live together in the
big white house.
All except for Auntie Comfort.
Auntie Comfort is one of Anna Hibiscus’s favorite questions, especially
on the Saturday Beach.
<Where is Auntie Comfort?=
<I’ve told you many, many times, Anna Hibiscus,= her mother says,
sighing.
<Tell me again, Mama, please,= Anna begs.
<Again! Again!= all the little cousins shout.
And all the aunties sigh.
<You children will tire us!= they say.
But Uncle Tunde, who is not yet married and has no children and is not
so tired of questions, says, <Auntie Comfort is in America.=
<Where? Where?= Anna Hibiscus and all the little cousins shout.
Uncle Tunde points. <Over these same waves. On the other side of the
Atlantic Ocean.= He shades his eyes. <I can almost see her from here.=
And they all jump up and try to see Auntie Comfort across the ocean.
 Once, Anna was so excited she ran right down to the waves.
<Maybe one day, when you are strong enough,= called Auntie Grace,
<you will swim right across the Atlantic Ocean to Auntie Comfort!=
<Am I almost strong enough?= Anna Hibiscus said seriously.
Everybody laughed and laughed. Anna didn’t know why they were
laughing at her. She wanted to cry.
 <Come,= said Anna’s mother, who was in a good mood. <Let us send her
a text message across the ocean instead!=
 She showed Anna and the little cousins how to send a text message to
Auntie Comfort. Anna pointed the cell phone toward the waves and sent
the message all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.

The next day was Sunday. On Sunday the whole family goes to church
wearing special traditional clothes cut from the one same beautiful cloth to
show they are all from the one same beautiful family.
 Grandfather was proud of his family. He was happy that his sons were
big and laughing. It pleased him that his daughters were strong and happy.
He loved his grandchildren, full of life and trouble.
He looked at Grandmother, whose wise eyes were full of love, and he
loved her too.
Only Comfort was missing. His youngest daughter. His comfort. Tears
came suddenly into Grandfather’s eyes. Anna Hibiscus, who was standing
close to him, saw his tears. What could be troubling Grandfather? He was
so old and wise. Nothing should be allowed to trouble Grandfather! Anna
Hibiscus went to him and put her hand in his.
 The next day, a letter came. A letter from Auntie Comfort!
<Praise God!= said Grandfather when he had read it. <Comfort will visit
us at last!=
 Tears streamed down Grandmother’s and Grandfather’s cheeks. Aunties
and uncles and cousins jumped up and down, smiling and clapping and
shouting, <Comfort is coming! Auntie Comfort is coming!=
<In three weeks’ time,= Grandfather continued, <Comfort will return on
holiday.=
 And for three weeks, everybody—little, medium, and big—was busy
working in preparation for Auntie Comfort’s visit. When she came, every
day would be a party.
Benz, Wonderful, and all the big boy cousins led home from market goats
carefully chosen by Grandfather and the uncles. They had to keep those
goats tied up and eating.
Miracle, Sweetheart, and all the little girl cousins were busy every day
feeding the chickens fattening in pens.
 The big gas stove in the kitchen was not big enough to prepare all the
food.
Anna, Chocolate, Angel, and all the medium-sized cousins were kept
busy collecting wood to feed the fires.
Pots bubbled and boiled, and Anna’s mother and aunties stirred and
sweated and strained.
Joy, Clarity, Common Sense, and all the big girl cousins grew muscles in
their arms from pounding and pounding yam and cassava and millet.
Uncle Bizi Sunday, who was in charge of shopping and cooking and
eating, did not sleep—not at all.
 Soon the big fridges and freezers were stuffed full of delicious food and
soft drinks, all waiting for Auntie Comfort to arrive.
But every evening when the family gathered to eat, a tear would run
down Grandfather’s cheek. He would look around at his wife and children
and grandchildren, all rolling balls of yam neatly between their fingertips
and popping them in their mouths.

<Will Comfort remember how to eat?= he would say. <Will she remember
our way? The proper African way? Will she have forgotten her fingers and
know only knife and fork now?=
The aunties and uncles would look at one another and smile and shrug
their shoulders. They did not know. Only Anna Hibiscus was worried that
Grandfather was sad again.
One night she asked her mother, <Mama, can I send a message on your
phone?=
<What are you talking about, Anna Hibiscus?= her mother said, cranky
and tired. <To who? Cell phones are not for children.=
Uncle Tunde heard. He saw Anna’s tears. Uncle Tunde had not been
cooking all afternoon, and he was not so tired.
<Don’t worry, Anna Hibiscus,= he said. <You can use my phone.=
So Anna sent a message across the Atlantic Ocean, and only Uncle Tunde
knew.
 In those three weeks before Auntie Comfort came, much new cloth
was bought and new clothes made for the whole family. A lot of text
messages were sent back and forth between the cloth market and the house.
Auntie Comfort emailed her measurements, and the tailor came on
his bicycle, his sewing machine strapped on the back, to help with
the making of the new clothes. Grandmother called Grandfather to inspect
each fitting.
 Grandfather sighed and shook his head when they held up Auntie
Comfort’s new clothes. <But will Comfort even know how to tie wrappa
anymore? The proper African way? Maybe she will only wear tight-tight
jean now.=
Angel and Chocolate and Anna Hibiscus looked at one another with
eyes wide open. An auntie wearing tight-tight jean! The boy cousins
giggled. The uncles laughed. Grandmother looked worried.
Anna Hibiscus borrowed Uncle Tunde’s phone again.
 The three weeks were almost gone. Anna was excited. Whenever she
could, she ran off to play at being Auntie Comfort. Auntie Comfort in the
office with many secretaries sending important emails and faxes around the
world. All the cousins loved to play this game. On the last day, they played
Auntie Comfort shopping for their presents!
 Grandfather came out to watch. He shook his head.
<It is the proper African way to bring gifts for everyone,= he said.
<Maybe Auntie Comfort will not remember.=
The cousins looked at one another. Now they were all worried.
Anna Hibiscus went running to Uncle Tunde. But it was too late! Too late
for Auntie Comfort to go shopping—Auntie Comfort was coming
tomorrow!
 The next day, Anna Hibiscus’s father and Uncle Tunde drove to the
airport to collect Auntie Comfort.
The family stood on the porch in their new clothes. They watched and
waited.
When Anna’s father and Uncle Tunde returned, they were smiling from
ear to ear. And when Auntie Comfort stepped out of the car, everybody
gasped.
 She was wearing the biggest, longest, fullest, stiffest traditional dress that
Anna and her cousins had ever seen. It was a miracle that her head tie had
fit inside the car!
 Auntie Comfort looked like a queen. The Queen of Africa! Uncle Tunde
winked at Anna.
 When Auntie Comfort knelt in front of Grandmother and Grandfather,
Anna Hibiscus thought she was the finest queen she had ever seen.
Anna’s mother and all the aunties were crying with joy and relief.
Anna’s father and the uncles were laughing and smiling. Grandfather’s
smile was the happiest smile of all. And Anna Hibiscus’s was the widest.
<Welcome, Comfort!= Grandfather said.
<Thank you, Father,= Auntie Comfort replied. <But I am now called
Yemisi.=
 <Why?= said Grandmother. <What is wrong with Comfort?=
<I wanted to have an African name, Mama,= said Auntie Comfort.
The aunties started to laugh.
<Comfort is an African name,= said Grandmother.

<But it is an English word, Mama,= said Auntie Comfort.

<It is an English word, but an African name,= said Grandfather. <Have
you ever heard of any English person being called Comfort? Come, enough
of this. Let us eat.=
The table had been laid according to Grandfather’s instructions. There
were plates at every place, and many knives and forks and spoons, for the
many courses. They ate pepper soup with their spoons, and then eba and
okro and stew were served. Everybody looked at Auntie Comfort. Auntie
Comfort looked politely at Grandmother and Grandfather.
Grandfather gestured to Auntie Comfort. <Begin, my daughter,= he said.

Auntie Comfort motioned for the finger-washing bowl to be passed to

her. Then she began. Rolling the eba into neat little balls with her fingertips,
dipping it into the okro and stew, and then popping it into her mouth.
The cousins clapped and clapped. Big fat happy tears ran down
Grandmother’s and Grandfather’s cheeks. Auntie Comfort looked surprised
. . . and then she winked at Anna Hibiscus. Anna Hibiscus smiled her
biggest smile.
 The worry was over. Except . . .
What was inside Auntie Comfort’s many big suitcases?
Presents, of course! There were presents for Grandmother and
Grandfather, Mother and Father and all the aunties and uncles, and there
were presents for Anna, Double Trouble, Benz, Wonderful, Miracle,
Sweetheart, Chocolate, Angel, Joy, Clarity, Common Sense, and all of the
cousins. Everybody cried with excitement and hugged Auntie Comfort over
and over again. Nobody had been forgotten! Not the neighbors, not the
distant relatives, not the girls who stood selling fruit and vegetables at the
gate. Nobody.
 Anna was delighted. Auntie Comfort had thought of everything and
everyone.
After that, everybody, including Anna Hibiscus, knew that Auntie
Comfort was still a true and proper African lady, both modern and
traditional.
<Our daughter has come,= Grandmother said over and over again.
<Our daughter has not only come,= Grandfather said. <She has also
remained one of us.=
And everybody agreed.
 Lucky, though, thought Anna Hibiscus when Auntie Comfort
went splashing in the waves in a tiny-tiny bikini—lucky Grandmother
and Grandfather don’t come to the beach!
OceanofPDF.com
Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. In the country of Nigeria.
She and her family live in a big white house in a beautiful garden in the
middle of a compound. All around the compound is a wide white wall.
Outside the wall is the city.

It is a big African city of lagoons and bridges and roads, of skyscrapers

and shantytowns. Ships and boats sail up and down the lagoons, which
wind through the city from the sea to the rain forest. Ships and boats loaded
with people and goats and goods. Every road is jammed with hundreds
and thousands of cars, buses, taxis, and motorbikes, all loaded with people
and all blowing their horns.
 There are millions and millions of people in Anna Hibiscus’s city: people
being born and people dying, people growing up and people growing old,
people studying and people working, working, working. People walking,
running, driving; singing, talking, shouting; laughing and fighting; buying
and selling. The city is always busy and noisy and loud.

However noisy the city was, inside Anna Hibiscus’s compound it was
quiet, quiet, quiet. Auntie Comfort had flown back across the Atlantic
Ocean to America. The days-long parties were over. The distant relatives
had returned to their villages, and the neighbors had gone home. The big
cousins were at school, and aunties and uncles were at work.
There were now only the daytime sounds of little cousins playing and a
few aunties, sometimes singing, sometimes scolding. There were now only
the evening sounds of uncles laughing and discussing. Sometimes only the
murmur of Grandmother’s and Grandfather’s soft words could be heard.
Anna Hibiscus was bored of this quiet. She was bored of playing with her
cousins, bored of housework with her mother, bored of listening quietly to
Grandmother and Grandfather.
Anna loved to stand at the gate and watch the city. She knew all the girls
who stood outside the gate selling fruit and vegetables from baskets piled
high on their heads. She knew the women who squatted in the road frying
plantains and braiding hair for money. She knew the small boys who sold
matches. They all called and sang to the people passing on foot, or in cars
and buses and bikes: <COME AN’ BUY! COME AN’ BUY!=
 Anna loved the girls who sold oranges and plantains the most. Whole
busloads of people stopped to buy their oranges. Motorbikes pulled over for
plantains. Those girls shouted and screamed and laughed and talked to
everybody. They ran after passing cars for money held out of opened
windows. They fought off goats who ate the plantains. They chased off
children who stole their oranges. The girls at the gate did not have to play
boring games with little cousins all day long. They were busy with the
whole city. Those girls did not look bored.
 Many, many times Anna Hibiscus asked her mother and her father, her
grandmother and her grandfather, <Abeg, Papa, please can I go out? I want
to sell oranges at the gate.=

But Grandfather always laughed.

<Ah-ah, Anna Hibiscus, why do you want to sell oranges? You are a
lucky girl. You have a father and a mother who work for you. Even I, when
I was young, worked for you: for our beautiful big white house, for our
garden, where you can play and pick fruit anytime you like. Go and play,
Anna Hibiscus; you do not know how lucky you are!=
One day Anna Hibiscus was so bored she decided not to listen to
Grandfather. She decided to sell oranges anyway.
Anna found a big basket. She climbed one of the orange trees and filled it
full of fruit. Then she slipped out of the gate with her basket on her head.
<Orrrr-enge! Orrrr-enge!= Anna Hibiscus shouted just like the other girls.
They all looked at her with surprised and worried eyes.
 Anna Hibiscus’s oranges were bright and clean and shiny. They were
fresh off the tree. The other girls’ oranges were dusty and soft.
Their oranges had traveled in trucks along bumpy dry roads all the way
from the plantations to the city. Their oranges had sat in the sun in dirty
markets. Their oranges had been carried in open baskets along smelly
polluted roads. Their oranges were small and orange-brown.

The girls’ dresses were faded and torn. Anna Hibiscus was as bright and
clean and shiny as her oranges. All the people who stopped wanted the big
bright oranges from the well-dressed little girl. Anna sold all her oranges.
She filled up her basket again and again and sold them all. The other girls
sold almost none that day.
 Anna Hibiscus was so excited. As evening fell, she rushed back through
the gate and into the house. The money was in her pocket, and her smile
was bright and shining.
But when Anna’s father and uncles came home from work, they looked
worried.
<Something happen for those girls at the gate today. Some kind of
trouble,= the eldest uncle said. <That Angelina, she with no mother, no
father, only sick brother at home. Angelina always smile. Today she cry.=
<Is true,= said Uncle Tunde. <And that small one with polio shrivel leg,
who has to work morning and night for food. She crying too.=
<Yes,= said Anna’s father. <And that one with twelve brother-sister, who
father done die, why she so sad today?=
The big bright smile fell off Anna Hibiscus’s face.
Grandfather was worried. What had happened to trouble the poor girls
so? He went himself to the gate, but the girls had all gone.
Anna came and stood beside her grandfather. They looked at the yellow
lights and the hustle of the city. Anna held out her hand. The coins were
shining on her palm.
 <What is this, Anna Hibiscus?= her grandfather asked.
<I sold our oranges, Grandfather,= she whispered. <Now the girls have no
money for food for their little brothers and sisters.=
Anna started to cry. Grandfather looked up at the empty orange trees. He
looked down at his crying granddaughter.
<People will be hungry tonight, Anna Hibiscus, because of what you have
done.=
Anna hid alone in her room and cried.
Early the next morning, Grandfather called her. <Come, Anna Hibiscus.
Bring your basket.=
Slowly Anna followed her grandfather to the gate. The girls were already
there, desperate to sell their oranges and plantains.
 <Today my granddaughter will work for you,= Grandfather said. <Today
she will collect oranges from the market and bring them here. You will not
have to walk back and forth in the heat every time your basket is empty.
Today you will be able to sell many, many oranges.=
Grandfather led Anna Hibiscus along the road to the market. It was a
long way. There was no shade; there was no cool grass; there was no
sidewalk. On one side of Anna was the gutter, with its old green stinking
water. On the other side was the traffic—loud horns blasting, engines
roaring, exhaust fumes belching. Anna Hibiscus and her grandfather went
slowly because they were an old man and a small girl unused to walking to
market. All the other people jostled and pushed past them. Sweat poured
down Anna’s face and into her eyes. Her throat burned with dust
and car fumes.

At last they reached the place where the market women haggled and
shouted. Grandfather led the way to the fruit sellers. He filled Anna’s basket
with the best oranges. The bright coins from yesterday were still in Anna’s
pocket. She took them out and gave them to the orange seller. Grandfather
nodded.
Back and forth they went. Back and forth. Sweat stained Grandfather’s
shirt. He leaned heavily on his cane. Grandfather was too old to walk back
and forth in the hot busy city.
<Maybe Mama or Auntie or Uncle could walk with me, Grandfather,=
Anna said.
 <They are all busy with their work,= Grandfather said. <I will not give
them more.=
Tears poured quietly down Anna Hibiscus’s face.
When afternoon came, Grandfather went to rest and Grandmother joined
Anna Hibiscus. Anna walked on and on, the heavy orange basket on her
head. She did not stop. Not once.

When night fell, Grandfather was waiting for Anna at the gate. The girls
were there too. Everybody had big smiles on their faces.
<This one small girl work hard-o!= the gate girls cried.
<Carry enough orange for all of us to sell plenty-plenty!=
<Well done-o! Well done!=
Grandfather led Anna Hibiscus into the compound. Her feet had blisters,
her head was aching, and her legs were sore. Her ears were ringing from the
car horns. Her throat and eyes were stinging with sweat and dust and fumes.
But Anna was smiling too.
<Grandfather, send her work again-o!= called the girls.
Anna Hibiscus’s grandfather laughed.

<Anytime she is bored of the quiet compound,= he said, <anytime she is

tired of the peace and the quiet . . . well, Anna Hibiscus now knows what
it is to work hard!=
OceanofPDF.com
Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. In a country called Nigeria.
And because of this, Anna Hibiscus has never once seen snow. More than
anything else in the entire world, Anna longs to set her eyes, her feet, her
hands, on snow.
Anna Hibiscus lives in a wonderful house with many, many rooms and
balconies and staircases both inside and out. But more wonderful than this,
more wonderful than anything else in the entire world, so Anna thinks, is
snow.
All day long, Anna Hibiscus plays in the garden around the house. A
garden full of cool grass to lie on, beautiful trees to climb up, and lovely
flowers to smell. The trees are full of sweet fruit, and the flowers are full of
sweet nectar. But nothing can be sweet like snow, Anna has decided;
nothing can be so cool.
Anna Hibiscus lives with her mother and her father, her grandmother and
her grandfather, her aunties and her uncles, her cousins and her brothers,
Double and Trouble. Anna Hibiscus’s family is so big she cannot count
them all. But nothing is more uncountable than snow, Anna thinks.
 One morning, in the amazing land of Africa, in the wonderful house with
the wonderful garden, Anna Hibiscus woke up and her room was white.
Floating white.
<SNOW!= shouted Anna.
Anna’s cousins Chocolate and Angel woke up. Anna was waving
her arms, and the breeze from the air conditioner that cools down the hot
African air was floating white all about her. There were Double and Trouble
sitting on the floor, feathers around their mouths, chewing Chocolate’s
pillow.
<Snowing feathers!= Angel cried, and she shook her pillow.

Now Anna Hibiscus could think of nothing but snow. Snow! Snow!
Snow! She and her cousins played snowstorms howling down hallways.
They stormed through the rooms until their mothers chased them out into
the garden.
 Anna climbed the big mango tree, where her big boy cousins were
sitting, eating mangoes.
<This one’s sweet-o,= shouted Anna, biting into a ripe one.

<But not sweet like snow-o. You agree, Cousin Benz? You agree, Cousin
Wonderful? Nothing’s sweet like snow!=
Anna Hibiscus talked on and on until the boy cousins shook the branches
of the tree and she almost fell out.
She climbed down, shouting, <Just because you no know snow!=
It was true. Her cousins knew nothing about snow; her father knew
nothing about snow; her grandfather and her grandmother knew nothing
about snow; her aunties and her uncles knew nothing about snow; even
Anna Hibiscus herself did not know snow. Nobody in Anna’s family knew
anything about snow because nobody in Anna’s family had ever, even once,
seen snow. Nobody except for Anna Hibiscus’s mother.
 You see, a long time ago, before Anna Hibiscus was born, when
her father was a young man, he had gone to the land called Canada. He had
gone in the short summertime, and there he had met Anna’s mother.
They had gotten married and come quickly back to Africa before the long
winter came and Anna’s father got too cold.
 So Anna’s mother knew all about snow. She had been born
during a snowstorm and had grown up building snowmen and throwing
snowballs. She had sledded and tobogganed over mountains of snow.
She had even skied across snow-covered fields to school.
 But Anna knew better than to ask about snow again, now, today, when
her mother and the aunties were busy in the house.
So Anna Hibiscus went to the gate, but everybody outside was quick and
shout and hurry today: buying and selling, haggling and arguing, walking
and rushing; quick and shout and hurry! Nobody wanted to stop and talk to
Anna except for a small beggar boy. Anna gave him the mango she had in
her pocket. She started to tell him about snow—like cassava flakes falling
from the sky!
 <You de craze,= the beggar boy said, and ran away.
<I no de craze!= Anna shouted.
She ran to tell Grandmother.
<It is not kind to talk of cassava falling from the sky to somebody who is
always hungry,= her grandmother said.
 <You must be crazy, Anna!= whispered her cousin Chocolate.
Anna Hibiscus was cross. She went into the kitchen. Uncle Bizi Sunday
would be there, and he would be nice to her. He was the chief of the
shopping and the cooking. And he was often in the kitchen, commanding
and organizing it all.
 When Anna Hibiscus came in, Uncle Bizi Sunday was measuring rice.
Anna watched the small white grains being scooped up from the sack and
falling into the bowl.
<Snow is like rice, Uncle,= said Anna. She knew that he was not hungry.
She knew he would not say she was crazy. <Like rice falling from the sky,=
she said.
Anna reached for some rice to show him how it could fall from the sky,
but Uncle Bizi Sunday closed the sack.
 <Finish,= he said.
<Oh,= said Anna Hibiscus. <Well, rice is not so much like snow. Snow is
cold.= She looked around and saw the big freezer. <Cold like ice,= she said.
Anna Hibiscus opened the freezer. It was cold and soft inside. She
scraped out handfuls of ice and threw them into the air.
<Look, Uncle!= she said. <Look at the snow!=
Ice flew into the air and fell onto the floor. It melted into puddles.
Uncle Bizi Sunday looked at the puddles. <Overseas is snow,= he said.
<Yes, Uncle, in Scotland and Alaska and Iceland and Canada,= said Anna
Hibiscus.
<Snow dey for kitchen?= said Uncle Bizi Sunday.
<No, Uncle,= said Anna slowly. <It snows outside.=
 <So why snow fall for this my kitchen?= Uncle Bizi Sunday was
aggravated.
Anna hurried to mop up the puddles.

Her mother came in while Anna was mopping.

<Anna! I have been looking for you,= she said. <Here is a letter from
Granny Canada! How would you like to visit her next summer? She will
buy you a ticket on an airplane!=
Anna Hibiscus stood still as a stone. Only her eyes grew wider and wider.
Suddenly she leaped into the air and shrieked like a peacock.

<SNOW!=
Anna Hibiscus sang, waving the mop.

<Snow, you are wonderful!

I will see and tell you so!
Snow, you are so cold-o!
I will feel and say you so!
Snow, you are so sweet-o!
I will taste and tell you so!
SNOW—=
 <Anna!= her mother interrupted gently. <There is no snow in the
summertime.=
Anna Hibiscus stopped dancing. Her eyes grew full of tears. Uncle Bizi
Sunday came to stand beside her. <Dis child have to see snow,= he said.
Somewhere inside the house, Double and Trouble started to cry. They
cried and cried and cried. Nobody was picking them up.
Anna’s mother turned to go. <I just don’t know,= she said.
 Anna sat down on the floor, and her tears splash, splash, splashed into a
puddle. Uncle Bizi Sunday hurried out of the kitchen. When he came back,
he was carrying paper and an envelope. He took a pen from a drawer.

<Anna Hibiscus,= he said. <Come! You must write.=

<Why?= Anna wailed.
<You must write for Granny Canada—tell her you love snow.=
Anna stopped crying. She looked at Uncle Bizi Sunday.
<Come,= he said. <You write. I post.=
 Uncle Bizi Sunday wiped away Anna’s tears and sat her on a stool to
write.

Dear Granny Canada,

Thank you for inviting me. I want to see you and Canada and
the bears and go on the airplane. But I wish I could see snow
too. I really really really love snow. Love from Anna Hibiscus

Anna put the letter in the envelope and stuck it down.

<I no know address!= she wailed.
<I know it,= Uncle Bizi Sunday said. <Your mama told me one time.=
Uncle Bizi Sunday had never been to school. He could not read; he could
not write. But he could remember everything he was told. Even if he only
heard it one time.
He said the address carefully and Anna copied it down. The letter was
ready! Uncle Bizi Sunday readied himself. He took off his apron and put on
his shirt. He put the letter in his pocket.
Anna Hibiscus watched him walk to the gate. She saw him stop and
count the coins in his pocket before he went out. Then he was gone.
 Anna Hibiscus waited while Uncle Bizi Sunday took the letter to the post
office. Had she spelled the address right? Anna Hibiscus crossed her
fingers. She waited a long, long time while the letter was sitting in the post
office until an airplane flew it all the way across Africa and over the
ocean to where her granny lived in Canada. She waited while the postman
in Canada slowly read the address and then delivered the letter to her
granny. She waited while her granny opened the letter, read it, and smiled.
She waited while her granny wrote a letter back and that new letter flew all
the way across the ocean and all the way across Africa to where
Anna Hibiscus lived. Anna Hibiscus waited for weeks for that letter, while
her fingers remained crossed.
 Then one day, as Anna was sitting in the big mango tree with her cousins,
somebody shouted, <A letter! A letter for Anna Hibiscus!=

Anna almost fell out of the tree again. Everybody in Anna’s family came
running. Her father, her grandfather, her grandmother, her uncles, her
aunties; all of her cousins; her mother with her two baby brothers; but first
and fastest was Uncle Bizi Sunday.
<A letter from Canada!= Chocolate shouted, looking at the stamp. <Read,
Anna! Read!=

Dear Anna Hibiscus,

Why don’t you come and visit me at Christmastime instead?
Then there will be plenty of snow for you to see. I would love to
have you to stay for Christmas. See what your parents say.
Love, Granny Canada
 Anna Hibiscus took a deep breath. She looked up at her mother and her
father. Her father was looking at her mother. Her mother was looking at her.
<Anna Hibiscus?= her mother said.
<I wrote to Granny Canada,= Anna said. <I wrote that I love snow.=

Her mother opened her mouth, but before she could speak: <Initiative!=
said Grandfather. <Can she go?=
<Of course,= her father said. <Of course you can go, Anna Hibiscus.=
 Anna could not move. Christmastime. Here the trees would be covered
with leaves and lights and her family would be dancing to music beneath
them. The days would be long and warm. But she, Anna Hibiscus, would
be where the trees were bare. The days would be short and cold and she
would play in . . .
<SNOW!= shouted Anna.
Everybody cheered and clapped and laughed. Chocolate and Angel sang.
Uncle Bizi Sunday danced Anna Hibiscus around and around. Hip, hip,

HOORAY!

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 <Snow, you are wonderful!
Anna will see and tell you so!
Snow, you are so cold-o!
Anna will feel and say you so!
Snow, you are so sweet-o!
Anna will taste and tell us so!
SNOW!=

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s
imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Text copyright © 2010, 2022 by Atinuke

Illustrations copyright © 2010, 2022 by Lauren Tobia

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information
retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including
photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

First Candlewick Press electronic edition 2022

First US edition published by Kane Miller 2010
First published by Walker Books (UK) 2007

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2021946698

The illustrations in this book were done in ink.

Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

www.candlewick.com

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