TROUBLE

From Kurtz (Miro in the Kingdom of the Sun, 1996, etc.), the lively Eritrean story of a young boy with a magnetic attraction to trouble. On Tekleh's watch, goats end up in the garden, and dust somehow settles on the roasting coffee beans. His father gives him a gebeta board, hoping that the game will keep his curious boy out of mischief. Board in hand, Tekleh takes the family goats to graze in the hills, but soon loses his father's gift to some traders, who give him a fine knife; another man offers Tekleh his masinko—a musical instrument—for the knife, and so Tekleh's trading and his adventures continue; eventually he returns home with another game board, fulfilling his father's prophecy: ``A gebeta board never fails to keep a young boy out of trouble.'' An author's note discusses the story's origins; Bernhard's illustrations provide an enchanting window into the culture and people of Eritrea. (map, glossary) (Picture book/folklore. 3-7)