A buoyant eye-opener for younger readers under the impression that African folk tales begin and end with Anansi.
Naidoo and Grobler follow up their Afrocentric collection of Aesop’s Fables (2011) with a fresh set of tales drawn from Amharic, Luo, Zulu and other traditions.
“Once, Lion wanted to check that all the animals knew who was boss. So he went to each in turn.” In these breezy retellings the lessons are pointed but (generally) nonfatal: Lion gets a sudden comeuppance from Elephant (“Who is King?”); Hippo discovers that Fire is a chancy friend (“Why Hippo Has No Hair”); a clever “Miller’s Daughter” outwits a harsh sultan with help from a djinni; an elephant with a newly stretched-out trunk uses it not for spanking, as Kipling’s Elephant’s Child does, but to make eating and drinking easier. In his cartoon illustrations, Grobler outfits humans in traditional regional dress and animals either similarly or sometimes with vibrant stripes or other decorative patterns. The stories range from one to six pages each, and the language lends itself with equal ease to reading aloud or silently. Though aside from an occasional word or song they are light on specific cultural markers, the tales offer a rich assortment of chuckle-worthy tricks, suspenseful adventures and salutary examples of behavior laudable or otherwise.
A buoyant eye-opener for younger readers under the impression that African folk tales begin and end with Anansi. (introduction, source notes) (Folk tales. 7-9)Pub Date: April 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-84780-514-0
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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The story allows for increasing complexity of situation and emotion in a way that’s utterly accepting of 7-year-old...
This installment in the continuing story of Lulu, her cousin and best friend, Mellie, and her growing collection of pets delights.
Their grandmother, Nan, who is “little and snappy and quick and kind,” is staying with the girls while their parents are away on a grown-up holiday. She is not fond of animals, so this is quite brave: Lulu’s menagerie is ever-growing. When a bag full (as it turns out) of a marigold-colored cat is left on the doorstep, Nan tries mightily to keep Lulu from opening something that could be dangerous, but she does not succeed. What follows is a rollicking tale of a cat that loves flowers (and is wary of humans), terrorizes Lulu’s old dog Sam and young dog Rocko, and allows the girls to understand that not all animals can cohabit with the same family and that not all adults look upon creatures with the affection and care that Lulu does. Their neighbor Charlie, who loves making people “shriek and giggle,” makes a cameo appearance. Why the marigold cat was so large (and so wary) is explained in the end, and a satisfactory home for the marigolds three (!) is found.
The story allows for increasing complexity of situation and emotion in a way that’s utterly accepting of 7-year-old thought—and it’s very funny. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8075-4804-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
Some readers may wonder why Claude needs to give “the high wire a once-over with a damp cloth,” but surrealists probably...
Children waiting for an absurdist chapter book need tap their toes no more.
“Claude’s best friend,” readers are told, “is Sir Bobblysock. He is both a sock and quite bobbly.” (Oddly, the sock in the illustration, though striped, looks quite smooth.) Readers should be warned: The Claude series is full of jokes that are clever but extremely bewildering. This may be a book for a rarified audience. It’s a story about a dog who’s compulsively neat. When he goes to a golf course, he fills in the holes and picks up the untidy balls littering the grass. Fans of Amelia Bedelia will find this sort of thing hilarious, but some of the jokes are positively surreal. Amelia Bedelia’s socks never danced “a high-stepping jig.” The climax has everything a child could want in a book. Claude hangs from a tightrope, throws custard pies and is shot out of a cannon.
Some readers may wonder why Claude needs to give “the high wire a once-over with a damp cloth,” but surrealists probably won’t complain. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-56145-702-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013
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