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SUBIRA SUBIRA

Name: SUBIRA SUBIRA
Author: Tololwa M. Mollel
ISBN: 0-395-91809-X

by Tololwa M. Mollel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 17, 2000

(author’s note, pronunciation guide, musical score) (Picture book/folktale. 5-9)

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Adding a touch of magic, Mollel (My Rows and Piles of Coins, 1999, etc.) retells a traditional Tanzanian folktale about

the costs and pleasures of taming a wild-child younger brother. Saport's (All the Pretty Little Horses, 1999, etc.) pastels are so rich with deep blues, russets, golds, and ambers that they belie their name. Her illustrations flow across the spreads, masterfully supporting the story while adding mood and characterization. After Mother's death, Father takes a job that demands long hours. He assigns the care of Maulidi to older sister Tatu. Tatu has her hands full, and the only way she can handle Maulidi at first is with orders backed up by wrestling him to the ground when he disobeys, as he always does. Father is too weary to take immediate action, so Tatu seeks the aid of MaMzuka, a mysterious spirit woman who lives in the forest and responds only to song. MaMzuka hears Tatu's song, but her advice to pluck three whiskers from the lion and bring them to her terrifies the girl. Seemingly spellbound by Tatu's song that night, the lion requires more enchanting, which Tatu provides on the following night. When Tatu brings the whiskers to MaMzuka, the spirit woman discards them. "To change your brother, just remember how you got the whiskers," the spirit woman advises, and so fighting gives way successfully to patience, love, and song. A subtle message, which avoids didacticism through the simplicity of its language and the power of its illustrations.

(author’s note, pronunciation guide, musical score) (Picture book/folktale. 5-9)

Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2000

ISBN: 0-395-91809-X

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SCIENCES

- BOOK REVIEW
SONG BIRD
adapted by Tololwa M. Mollel

- BOOK REVIEW
KITOTO THE MIGHTY
by Tololwa M. Mollel & illustrated by Kristi Frost

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FLYING TORTOISE
adapted by Tololwa M. Mollel & illustrated by Barbara Spurll

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MAMA GOD, PAPA GOD

A CARIBBEAN TALE

adapted by Richardo Keens-Douglas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 26, 1999

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Mama God, Papa God ($15.95; Apr. 26; 32 pp.; 1-56656-307-0): The creation story takes a whimsical Caribbean turn in a seamless blend of religion and folk-art set in Haiti. Tired of living in darkness, Papa God creates light, then goes on to make the world as a beautiful gift for Mama God. Together, they design a detailed world filled with brilliance, love, and humor. Highly stylized illustrations rich in primary colors show the progress of creation as animals, birds, water, fish, wind, and rain take their place in the world. This unusual rendition of the creation tale sings to a calypso beat and gives a strikingly different and exuberant interpretation of how the world began. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: April 26, 1999

ISBN: 1-56656-307-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Interlink

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SCIENCES

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THE GREEN MIST

adapted by Marcia Sewall & illustrated by Marcia Sewall ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999

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A beguiling retelling of a 19th-century Lincolnshire tale that fairly dances with an impatience to be read aloud. Mouth-filling words dot this story, the context making them easily understood while taking away none of their mystery. Bogles and other horrid things live in the cracks and cinders and sleep in the fields in the old times, and at darkling every night folk walk round their houses with lights in their hands to keep the mischancy beings away. In autumn, “they sang hush-a-bye songs in the fields, for the earth was tired” and they fear the winters when the bogles have nothing to do but make mischief. As the year turns, they wake the earth from its sleeping each spring, and welcome the green mist that brings new growth. In one family, a child pines, longing for the green mist to return with the sun. Through the long winter she grows so weak her mother must carry her to the doorsill, so she can crumble the bread and salt onto the earth to hail the spring. The green mist comes, scented with herbs and green as grass, and the child thrives, once again “running about like a sunbeam.” The green, gold, brown, and gray of the watercolors show fields and haycocks, knobby-kneed children and raw-boned elders, a counterpoint to the rich text. (Picture book. 4-9)