Kirkus Reviews QR Code
AMOKO AND EFUA BEAR by Sonia Appiah

AMOKO AND EFUA BEAR

By

Pub Date: March 1st, 1989
Publisher: Macmillan

A simple story about a five-year-old who lives in Ghana. Amoka takes her toy bear everywhere till Auntie Dinah gives her a drum like her father's and she forgets about Efua and leaves her outdoors. Unfortunately, dogs come in the night and play with Efua, tearing off one arm: but when Amoka misses Efua in the morning, her father finds the bear, and her mother sews the arm back on. Though the events here are not exceptional, they are gracefully told and serve to show that life in Ghana is not so different from life elsewhere. Easmon's illustrations, with dark, richly evocative colors and striking design, add authentic detail--costume, an outdoor market, tropical vegetation, dramatic skies. Her figures (especially Amoko, who looks more like a small adult than a child) are a little stiff, but this introduction makes her an illustrator to watch.