At this point in history, literature for African kids is something I crave for as satellite TV takes the attention of many. Back in the day, all we had was a video machine and TV one eagerly waited for by 4 o’clock in the afternoon to watch ‘Sesame Street’, usually the first programme on school days on NTA. So, I was understandably thrilled when I ‘The Laughing Guava Tree’ in my hands.
The collection of 18 short stories is a first edition of ‘Stories From Africa for Children’ written by 10 authors, namely Lazarus Musa Samdi, T. Bailey, Kate Bhule, Tadaferua Ujorha, Pilom Maibege, Halima Usman, Kofar Tukur-Tukur, Doctor Deboosky, Helen Amaka Obochi, and Ashiedu Ogboli.
One of the attractions, as far as I am concerned, is the colourful cover page illustration showing a guava tree in a field. Kids will instantly fall in love with this and may not be too critical of the artwork, particularly at the back, of a woman seated beneath what may be the same tree, wearing a hat.
The titular story, ‘The Laughing Guava Tree’ by Lazarus Musa Samdi begins and ends with a guava tree talking about a typical lifestyle of a tree, its relevance and suffering.
“We give humans medicine from our bark, food and vitamins from our fruits. We clean dirty air and produce clean air for people to breathe. We love being trees. Sometimes we hear birds, people, snakes and monkeys saying to themselves; ‘Trees must be bored to death! They remain stuck in one spot for a lifetime! They can’t move around and see the world like us.’”
If there’s anything more glaring in this book, it’s the focus on educating kids in an entertaining manner. ‘The Laughing Guava Tree’ in particular teaches about deforestation and the need to find other sources of meeting our needs instead of indiscriminately cutting down trees.
Another story written by Tadaferua Ujorha is about Yusuf the adventurer, who enjoying telling his younger sister, Amina about his adventures. There was something promising in this story but somehow the author decided to end it after a brief dialogue about the former’s experience on the hilltop where he sees Kano city and meets Mallam Saidu. Readers and particularly kids, may like to know what happened afterwards, or what lessons there are to learn. However, one essential ingredient this story has, like all other stories in the collection, that totally exonerates it from critical eyes, is a study question for kids. So, the story is actually meant to prick their curiosity and make them research and learn more about the hills of Goron Dutse in Kano, which Encyclopaedia Britannica puts at 1,697 feet.
Again, ‘Eid El Kabir Day’, written by Ujorha proves that these stories aim to educate and inform its young readers.
“In his room Ahmed could hear the sound of horses as they passed on their way to the emir’s palace. It was Eid El Kabir Sallah Day, he remembered. He dressed up quickly and dashed down to the great baobab tree at the bottom of the garden. Here, he could see the horses and their riders quite easily.”
Eid el kabir is Sallah and a day of celebration for Muslims across the world. On this day, a major event is the Durbar that takes place where there’s a colourful procession on horseback and lots of other entertaining activities. Readers are asked to give an alternative name for the festival and also describe the event.
Other stories in the collection also include ‘Numbere The Naughty Cat’, ‘Donkeys in Rano’, ‘The Coming Child’, ‘Supper is Cooking’, ‘The Iron Fish Basket’, ‘Gift Finds Her Parents’, ‘Biba Visits the City of Abuja’, ‘Joses the Dreamer’, ‘The Marriage of Tumatu’, ‘Leton the Greedy Boy’, ‘How the Hyena Joined the Circus’, ‘A Day at the Dumps’, ‘Ali and the Chameleon’, and ‘Adamu and Bala Share a Cake’.
The story, ‘Adamu and Bala Share a Cake’ shows how two boys walk along a street with cakes being displayed for sale as well as other edibles that give off sweet aroma. Some kid may not know this in their early years, but there are those like them who don’t have the opportunity to eat such rare things like cake. They only hope, and one day, they just might.
“Each time Adamu and Bala passed the front of Home Cooking Bakeries, they would slow down in order to observe Russo doing various chores inside the shop. Most times, they had no name for the things Russo did, arranged or worked with. They in fact met Russo Walking down the street one day, but he did not remember them. He went past them, his heavy hands held together behind his back, while he seemed to gaze at the ground ahead.”
One important aspect of this book is the illustrations, and unfortunately, these were not very clear all through. However, its merits by far surpass its demerits.
