BONGA BONGA & GRANDPA

This illustrated children’s book explains how Grandpa came to love fish and care for them in a backyard pond.

As the story’s young narrator explains, her favorite baby toy was a monkey that dangled overhead. When she’d pull on its feet, her monkey would say “Bonga Bonga,” and that became the girl’s nickname. Bonga Bonga tells her grandfather’s tale as she’s heard it from him. Growing up in Jamaica, he liked to keep glass jars and aquariums filled with fish. By the time he was 10 years old, they became too numerous to keep inside, so he built several backyard ponds, one for each type of fish. He also solved several problems, such as how to protect his pets from dragonfly nymphs and a fish-eating neighbor cat. After finishing his university studies, he moved to West Vancouver, Canada, where Bonga Bonga now lives. There, he built a large pond in his backyard in the shape of Jamaica, but instead of warm-water tropical fish, he had to stock hardier goldfish. He made his own fish food and put up a bird feeder. There were some sad moments, as when raccoons and herons ate all 72 goldfish, but later Bonga Bonga’s grandfather installed a lighted fountain that scared predators away. “Then my grandpa and me bought some more goldfish. And we were very happy once again,” concludes Bonga Bonga. In this series opener aimed at children ages 1 to 7, Haddad (If I’m Not Back by Wednesday, 2016) tells the story with much affection for family relationships and the natural world. In the first category are warm memories of Bonga Bonga’s spending time with Grandpa: feeding fish and birds, playing, and commiserating when animals ate the goldfish. In the second category are, for example, tidbits about the life cycle of fish. Children can also learn something about the difficulties and rewards of keeping fish in backyard ponds, with solid information that comes from experience. The uncredited illustrations are charmingly naïve, bringing out the appeal of beautifully hued fish and even the ravenous raccoons.

Sweet and informative; of special interest to young fish lovers.