3 Things I Liked About Contraband By J.L Campbell

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Book Review: Miss Behave And the Sacred Cats of Ancient Egypt

Miss Behave And The Sacred Cats Of Ancient Egypt
Writer and illustrator: Camille Lagarrigue
Publisher: Siamese, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-920143-09-1
Availability: Email Camille and/ check your local bookstore


Synopsis

When all the witches are summoned to Egypt for their annual conference Miss Behave's enemies - Miss Spell, Miss Fortune and Miss Take - see it as the perfect opportunity to turn her trip into a nightmare.

Review

One of the signs that Baby likes a book I'm reviewing is that she treats it like her own book. She reads it more than once and every time I want to take a look at it, she has to go find it on her bookshelf.

Sometimes that makes for tense moments, especially when she takes the book to school to show to her friends/classmates.

"The people who give me books expect me to review them. If i don't then I become the shyster who tool their books under false pretences," I tell her.

Camille Lagarrigge's Miss Behave and the Sacred Cats Of Ancient Egypt is among the books that Baby and I fight about. Before I could say "book review" she had read the book a couple of times and was happily showing to a friend living next door.

The girls even started cutting out the very interesting clothing designs usually included in Miss Behave books.

For an author the fact that readers are so keen on a book is a wonderful compliment.

It means that the story and the characters resonate with them and they want to spend as much time in that world as possible.

Once I could fully appreciate this, I was happy to stand in line for my turn to read Miss Behave and the Sacred Cats Of Ancient Egypt.

So what do I think?

Miss Behave and the Sacred Cats of Ancient Egypt is a multi-layered book. On the surface you have an interesting adventure story of a young, unconventional witch who goes to Egypt to attend a conference.

Soon she finds herself in a pickle and has to ask for help from an old friend. Through that friend she experiences more adventure.

But when you look closely at the illustrations, new insight about the characters begins to emerge. You learn a bit of history, coupled with humorously absurd legends the author creates to give her characters and the story depth.

I was fascinated with the long conference agenda, which included broom licenses (for flying), flying lessons, child repellents and an exhibit of non-stick cauldrons.

It made me wonder how Miss Behave, who travels by bike, has previously done when using a broom.

All in all, Miss Behave and the Sacred Cats of Egypt is a wonderful read. I recommend more than on reading session for the kids, because each page is packed with text and visual information and it's far too easy to miss something while concentrating on the surface story. Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

Three friends and a taxi by Maryanne Bester and Shayle Bester

Three friends and a taxi
Originally uploaded by damariasenne

Three friends and a taxi
Writer: Maryanne Bester
Illustrator: by Shayle Bester
Publisher: Jacana Media (www.jacana.co.za), 2007
First Published: The Centre for the Book and Sappi, 2004
ISBN: 1-77009-265-X; 978-1-77009-265-5
Availability: Kalahari.net

For me the most striking thing about this book was the illustrations. Shayle did a really good job, and I can't make up my mind which of the main characters looks more interesting – sheep, goat or dog.

But I’m sure little kids just find these renditions of the farm animals funny.

Three friends on side of road
Originally uploaded by damariasenne

“Three friends and a taxi” is about the three friends, who, one hot day, decided to go to the sea. As they didn’t have cars, they had to ride a taxi.

Most people who have ridden public taxis in Africa will easily relate to the events that follow. As the author says, the story itself is one that is told across Africa, from Nigeria to the Comores to South Africa.

I think “Three friends and a taxi” is also a very skillfully told, modern folktale based on the “Why Animal X Does Something.”

"Three friends and a taxi" is a funny story I highly recommend for kids around 5-7 years old who are still learning to read.

Book Review: Ouma Ruby's Secret ( Sephiri sa ga Nkoko Ruby)

Cover of Ouma Ruby's Secret
Originally uploaded by damariasenne

Author: Chris Van Wyk

Illustrated by: Anneliese Voigt-Peters

Published by: Giraffe Books, Pan Macmillan South Africa

Published: 2006

ISBN: 1-920016-47-3

Availability:Pan Macmillan at www.panmacmillan.co.za or www.kalahari.net

I first met Johannesburg-based author Chris Van Wyk and grew to admire his writing in the early 1990’s, during my short stint working for the now-defunct Upbeat magazine. Since then, I’ve made it a point to read some of his works, and his books never disappoint.

According to the first page of the book, the story narrated in Ouma Ruby’s Secret is true and it’s about Chris and his grandmother Ruby.

One day, Ouma Ruby asked Chris to meet him in town. She wouldn’t tell him the reasons why. “You’ll see,” she said.

Over the course of the book, readers get a glimpse of Chris’s early years, and some of lessons he learnt from his grandmother that shaped him. They also learn about the wonderful surprise Ouma Ruby had for him.

I can only marvel at how blessed Chris was to have a grandmother like Ruby. She understood him very well, giving him a gift that shows love and understanding of who he is, rather than going for the easy choices. Not that they had money to blow either!

The book also has a surprise ending, as Ouma Ruby is keeping a big secret which lends the story a strong poignancy. If you want to teach your child some values about gift-giving during Christmas and birthdays, this book is you.

For Batswana people though, I recommend that they stick to the English edition of the book.

I found the translated edition, Sephiri sa ga Nkoko Ruby very annoying, primarily because there was a mix-up of languages in it. I suspect the translator also speaks Sesotho, which is similar in Setswana in many ways.

There was also a tendency to write some words the way they are pronounced (shortened or with an apostrophe), rather than writing them out properly. For example, “cry” is not “lla”, even though it sounds like that. It’s “lela.”

I ended up going through the book with a pen, marking the words that were distracting me from the story, so I could move on with my reading:-).

Here are some of the words I marked, with their Setswana counterparts on the right:

Dula – Nna
Ntlung – Ntlong
Empa – Fela
Palama – Pagama / tana
Maphephe – Matlhare
Dinwamaphodi – Dinotsididi
Morabeng – Kgetseng

Lastly, I want to apologize to Chris for the latter part of my review. The story he tells in Ouma Ruby’s Secret is really lovely and well-written, and deserves to be read by as many children as possible.

And as he does not speak Setswana, there is no way he could have known about the little mistakes in the translation which added up to quite a major a spoiler.

Book Review: Handa O Gakgametse (Handa's Surprise)

Handa O Gakgametse
Originally uploaded by damariasenne

Author: Eileen Walker
First Published by: Walker Books, 2004
Reissued by: Giraffe Books, Pan Macmillan South Africa
Published: 2004
ISBN: 1-92001608-2
Availability:Pan Macmillan at www.panmacmillan.co.za or Amazon.co.uk

A couple of months ago Baby and I read Handa o Gakgametse by Eileen Brown but I never did post our review of the book here.

Handa o Gakgametse is the Setswana version of Handa’s Surprise, republished by Giraffe Books. It is the story of a little girl who decided to take a basket of fruit to her friend Akeyo, who lives in another village nearby.

The artwork is beautiful, with the fruit enticingly colourful. Using the pictures, you can teach your child about the varieties of fruit, and explore the different colours of fruit.

The book also introduces a number of wild animals and birds, as well as what they eat.

Baby and I however enjoyed the humour in the book the most, especially the suprise ending.

I also liked the fact that we could read this book in Setswana. It gave me the opportunity to drill Baby on colours, wildlife and fruit names in our language.

There's also a slight difference in the Setswana edition when compared to the English edition.

In Setswana, Handa o Gakgametse means Handa is Surprised, not Handa's Suprise ( as is the original title) and that brought an interesting angle to the story.

Alba by Ann-Catherine De Boel

Author: Anne-Catherine De Boel
Publisher (reissued): Giraffe Books, Pan Macmillan Africa
Published: 2006
ISBN: 10920016-52-X
Availability:Pan Macmillan at www.panmacmillan.co.za


Alba is a beautifully told, evocative story about a little girl who was sitting in front of her house, waiting, with ants working at her feet.
“Good day Alba,” one of the ants said.

As I read the book for the first time, the story and the characters didn’t make sense. Where was Alba’s father and why did she have to look for him so hard?

The story evoked a feeling of sadness and abandonment. Then I realized that was exactly how Alba felt, looking for answers, and yet the more she looked, the more puzzling it all was. This is made worse by the fact that she is only five years old.

Baby didn’t quite like Alba, mostly because the book deals with an difficult subject. But, I recommend it highly.

The Adventures of Goggles the Goose – Hooray for Goggles by Josephine

The Adventures of Goggles the Goose – Hooray for Goggles
Author: Josephine
Publisher: Giraffe Books, Pan Macmillan Africa
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781920016968
Availability:Kalahari.net
Cover price: R53.95

Baby grabbed The Adventures of Goggles the Goose out of a pile of children’s books and has read it independently more than three times.

It’s not a long/difficult book to read, but I found it interesting that she selected it and kept going back to it even when she had other choices.

Clearly the book cover, story and illustrations enthralled her, and I had a hard time getting her to leave the book when she left to go on holiday. ( I needed it for the review).

The Adventures of Goggles the Goose is a 20-page, colourfully illustrated book that tells the story of Baby Goose, a goose that was always crash landing.

His brothers and sisters laughed at him for this, and he was sad until his friend Josephine gave him glasses so that he could see properly.

The central message of the book is that everyone is different and that's okay. “It is these differences that make you special,” the book synopsis says.


I don’t know if Josephine is planning to bring out a second book, but I think a sequel would be very interesting. How much trouble can a half blind goose that wears seriously ugly goggles get into?

The Cool Nguni

The Cool Nguni
Writer: Maryanne Bester
Illustrator: Shayle Bester
Publisher: Jacana Media
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1-77009-264-1978
Availability:Kalahari.net
Cover price: R79.95

The Cool Nguni is a 20-page, well-written, richly illustrated story dealing with issues of identity, self-esteem and self-appreciation. The main character, the Little Nguni Calf, is a uniquely South African cow, but the issues the book raises are universal.

Synopsis

The Little Nguni Calf is unhappy because he’s doesn’t think he’s cool enough. He compares himself to Longhorn Cattle from the “wild, wild west,” Highland Cattle from Scotland and the Brahman Cattle from India, and in every case, he comes off short.“Those cattle from over the sea- they’re cool,” he says to his mother.

Baby enjoyed the book, and is still paging through to look at the colourful illustrations. I also hope the message that everyone has their own unique beauty had some impact on her. She has brown hair with dark orange streaks [long story] and I think her hair is lovely. But most kids around her have black hair, and sometimes they tease her too much and she insists we dye it so she blends in.

The book is a good, fun tool to explain to a child why being different is not a bad thing. And having grown up in a society where Black children were taught that it's NOT okay to be themselves, I can certainly appreciate why there is an acute need for The Cool Nguni.

New ways, new message

For the litttle girl in me, The Cool Nguni is the anti-thesis of a wedding song I heard many times when I was growing up. The song was sung at the beginning of wedding festivities, to call neighbours to come see the bride in all her glory:

Come out, come out
Come and see
Our beautiful girl is
as beautiful as a "Coloured" person!

[A Coloured person is a bi-racial person, and the reasoning was Black is ugly and aspiring to be White was too big a stretch. But with a bit of hard work- use of pigment removing cream applied for weeks preceding the event and spending days before the wedding indoors - you could at least pretend to pass for bi-racial.]

Since Apartheid was outlawed and the brainwashing has generally stopped, the song has also changed. "Our beautiful girl is as beautiful as the stars!"

Tlang tlang tlang,
Le boneng
Ngwana o tshwana le dinaledi!

Design your writing life

For the past couple of days, I’ve been going through Lisa Gates’ "The Architecture of Identity - Scaffolding Your Personal Brand(Workbook 1)."
Lisa was kind enough to send me a copy of the workbook weeks ago, when she first made it available. But at the time I felt overwhelmed with work. I was physically exhausted, my mind was fuzzy and my confidence as a writer felt a little shaky. All stress-related, I suspect.

So I decided on working through that bump before going through the workbook. Little did I realize that was the time I needed the workbook the most. Lisa says in the workbook that the stage I was going through is "when The Troll is running the show."

Once I got started on the workbook though, I realized it could be as personal a guide to help me structure my creative life as I would allow it. If you’re looking for a quick-fix, where someone tells you why your creative projects have stalled and what you need to do to fix it, then Scaffolding Your Personal Brand isn’t it.

…………………………

THE REVIEW

Many of us have dreams that remain unfulfilled. Maybe you’d like to learn to paint, play a guitar or write a book. Or maybe you’d like to quit your job and start a small business selling biltong in George.

But you’re a realist – you “know” it’s impossible to make this dream a reality because you don’t have the time/money/talent/skill/other resources to see it through. So you tuck the dream away, hoping that one day the ideal environment will come along when you can write your book, sell it to a publisher, make a fortune and become famous. Fat chance!

The Scaffolding Your Personal Brand workbook helps you dig deep into your dreams and life and consider what you can do to move from your present circumstances to a future life where you live your authentic creative life.

This is where I state, categorically, that this is not one of those self-help books that promise success if only you would believe in yourself or whatever. No recommendations are made as to what you should do to effect change in your life. The author simply asks a series of questions that makes you think about some of the choices available to you.

A good start for me in the workbook was The Big Questions, where I outlined the accomplishments that must occur for me to consider my life well-lived.

I was however intimidated by the self-contract. Having grown up overweight, self-contracts make me uneasy. I have made too many of them, and not lived up to a single one.

I’ve also mentioned on my blog that I don’t make birthday or New Year resolutions – primarily because for me it seems to be the perfect way not to achieve set goals. My strategy is to live each day fully, and try to take advantage of opportunities that come my way.

Fast forward to a section where the workbook deals with reasons people don’t start or finish projects, and she Lisa quotes Albert Einstein: “We can’t solve problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Fair enough, but what do I do then? How do I shift my thinking one inch at a time so the change doesn’t feel too overwhelming and the benefits are cumulative? What activities do I need to undertake to make this mind shift physical reality, so in five years I am the writer I dreamt of becoming?

I haven’t finished working through the workbook yet. I estimate it’s going to be some time before I do, primarily because the answers you give and the commitments you make need to be thought-through, plans made and implemented.

"Commitments are not goals,” Lisa says. “Commitments are ongoing quality of life shifts……A commitment is not measurable, but it is transformative.”

Visit Lisa's web site for more information.

Flat 9 by Mariam Akabor

Title: Flat 9
Author: Mariam Akabor
Publisher: Umsinsi Press, 2006
Price: Please check with Mariam or Felicity
To order: Email felicity@umsinsi.com

I rarely read short story collections, and I never go out of my way to find them, but after opening the first page of Mariam Akabor’s Flat 9, I couldn’t stop reading.

Set in central Durban, the collection of 11 short stories explores the loves, lives and troubles of a South African Indian community living in a dilapidated old building called AK Mansions.

“Amidst the hustle and bustle of city life, the tenants of AK Mansions are never short of excitement, drama or pain,” the back cover synopsis says.

Flat 9 captivated me primarily because it explores life’s moments that are a familiar to me, even while I was learning more about another local culture. The stories are very short and move along fast. Some leave you with the need to know what happens next beyond the pages.

For example, in Latif’s Mother, we meet a cranky woman whose son moved away to get away from her. Even as she yelled: “You blurry idjits! Voetsek fum here!” I couldn’t help but feel pity for her. Given the chance, would she change?

Then there’s Fatima, in AK Mansions, whose life just took a turn for the better. She has a new job, is about to move into AK Mansions, which by her current standards is actually a step up, and she’s looking forward to her mother’s visit. But a big decision that most local young women, whether African and Indian face is just around the corner.

Some of the stories pack an emotional punch. The Paki hits too close to SA’s shame – its citizens’ zenophobia. It was not a comfortable look in the mirror.

I suspect many teenagers can identify Feroz, the main character in All About Money, destined for a secure, well-paying job that does not touch on their interests or passions. “It’s just a stage,” they say of Feroz when he explains he wants to be a chef, not an accountant or engineer.

Flat 9 has been prescribed as secondary reading for high schools in the KswaZulu Natal province in South Africa, and with good reason.

But the book is more than a duty read. It’s a fun read, to be enjoyed equally by teenagers and adults. The book is a good place to start if you or your teenager are not yet fans of the short fiction form.

One child one seed by Kathryn Cave

One child one seed
Writer: Kathryn Cave
Photographer: Gisele Wulfsohn
Publisher: Giraffe Books,
Pan Macmillan South Africa in Association with Oxfam
Published: 2002
ISBN: 9780620280884
Availability:Kalahari.net
Soft cover price: R54.86

It took us a while to get into “One Child One Seed,” mostly because the book has many layers and wasn’t meant to be entertaining.

The book is oldish, published in 2002, but it’s still worth reading today. It’s billed as a South African counting book, teaching children to count from one to ten through the story of Nothando. One child, one seed; two hands to plant the seed, three ways to help it grow and so on…..

The beautiful, vivid photographs show Nothando’s home life, and provide a good picture of how poor, rural South African communities live.

I was especially impressed with the accuracy with which the family unit is shown. It’s no traditional Ma, Pa and kids “ideal” picture of a family unit, but something that many South Africans would easily recognize.

“Nontando lives with her Aunt Nomusa (in red) and her Grandmother Betty (in blue). Her big sister and her mother are on the right of the picture, and her brother on the left. They live nearby and spend a lot of time with Nontando.”

The book also gives a step by step guide on how to grow and nurture a pumpkin until it’s ripe, which you can use if you’re a keen gardener and would like to help your child grow something independently.

This book is a must-have.

Mother’s Day Weekend

On Mother’s Day Baby brought me tea and biscuits to bed, with a beautiful card and a flower on the tray. It was such a beautiful gesture!

Friends came over, so we just lazed about the house. It was a nice contrast from the busy schedule we set on Saturday.

On that day, two of Baby’s friends, aged 5 and 9 spent the day with us, and it was exhausting! They ran around the house, played some computer games, read a book, and then it was off to the mall to shop for shoes for Baby, eat lunch, browse bookshops and toy stores. The shopping went well, except the girls were so energetic and curious it was hard work keeping up with them.

Lunch was stressful – they insisted we go to McDonald’s and the place was packed. I hate waiting, so I dragged them off to a number of restaurants in the food court, and which were also packed.

Restaurants where they had open seats were not suited to entertaining kids and while Baby would have been just fine ordering a green salad, I wasn’t sure about her companions. So I had to suck it in and go back to McDonald’s.

“I’m going to work,” I said to the girls when we got home around four. Baby’s friends were due to be picked up around six, and all I wanted to do was sit down.

Writing, and responding to emails didn’t protect me from constant interruptions, having to mediate arguments and the girls’ loud music but it provided a good excuse to stay seated.

I was also asked to watch the girls do handstands and to judge who screams the loudest (a necessary skill, that!)

For me, days like this are rare, and I have to take my hat off for mothers who have two or more children under the age of ten and for whom juggling the needs of different kids is the norm.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day and your children showed you how much they appreciate who and what you are to them.

RHYMING RUSSEL BY PAT THOMSON AND CAROLINE CROSSLAND
Published by Collins, an imprint of Harper Collins

Baby and I thoroughly enjoyed Rhyming Russell by Pat Thomson and Caroline Crossland, which she brought from the school library. It’s an old book, published in 1990 and it’s about a boy who couldn’t stop speaking in rhyme.

The humour had us in stitches and I appreciated the fact that the characters were not stereotypes of people’s roles.

Mum and Dad flip a coin to decide who’ll fix the fence, grandpa is fantastically good at knitting and sells his work through some expensive shops, and the sister tinkers with car engines. This is the kind of book that makes kids want to read, and I wish I’d written it.

Zanzibar Road written and illustrated by Niki Daly

Zanzibar Road
Writter/Illustrator: Niki Daly
Publisher: Pan Macmillan South Africa, Giraffe Books
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1920016651
Availability: Kalahari.net, bookshops
Software cover price: R64.95

Zanzibar Road, written and illustrated by Niki Daly, is the kind of children’s book you read more than once.

The book tells the story of Mama Jumbo, who arrives on Zanzibar Road ready to build her own home and make friends,in a compelling way.

Baby and I tend to focus on words when we read, so the artwork was a sort of add on during the first few readings. The story has a strong message about community, friendship and sharing and is full of unexpected humour.

It also has unique pieces of information which led to a discussion about how other people live, beyond Baby’s Johannesburg suburban/Phokeng rural experience.

But the colourful artwork added an unexpected (for us) layer to the story. There are tiny details that tell you more about the place and the people. The labels on the buildings, and characters like Little Chico, Baba Jive added interesting dimensions to what we thought might be township/squatter camp life.

Mama Juju looks oddly attractive with her really long nose. I also think that her fashion sense rocks, and wouldn't mind wearing those fabrics! [ BTW, Baby is still playing with the clothing design cut-outs from her Miss Behave Book, so that element is interesting for my girl.]

The artwork was also helpful when we read the Setswana version of the story, guiding Baby to through the meaning of words she didn’t understand. The book is targed for 4-10 year olds, as are all Giraffe Books published by Pan Macmillan South Africa.

We highly recommend Zanzibar Road.

Camille Lagarrigue captures my kid’s imagination

Baby was very impressed with Camille Lagarrigue, author of the book “Miss Behave and the Secret Agents” and couldn’t stop talking about her for the past couple of days.

“She has a tattoo on her foot and drives a motor bike.”

It sounds like Camille’s writerly image, including her clothes – jeans, top etc – was also hip and trendy. Young girls who want to be fashionable and trendy could easily relate to her.

It’s a very different image of a children’s author than what I have come across so far but I like it. Anything that makes books and writers interesting; anything that makes kids enjoy books and not think the love of books is for dorks has my vote.

The book

“But what about the book? “ I asked Baby. “Did you like it?”

I’m happy to report that Baby likes the book. She liked the story, she liked the illustrations [why aren’t you an illustrator like Camille?], and she especially liked the cut out wardrobe that Camille designed for Miss Behave in the book.

For the past couple of days, Baby has been playing with the cut-out image of the fictional Miss Behave, dressing it in a variety of clothing from the book.

And we’re not cat people, despite the cat population that continues to let us live in this house, but Baby spent a lot of time looking at pictures of Bart and Blade, Miss Behave’s cats.

“Did you know the Bart and Blade in the story were inspired by real cats by the same name?”

The second Miss Behave book is apparently in the works and is due out later this year, says Baby. Read more about the characters and order your copy of ‘Miss Behave and the Secret Agents” on the Web Site.