SOUTH AFRICAN CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Jay’s Thoughts this Month
As Inclination Leads
“There are people who have never had a book experience. They think it’s not for them, that books are just something their children will have to do in school."
Rebecca Elgar, creator of Driver Dan’s Story Train on British television
Children's Book of the Month
BafanaBafana
Troy Blacklaws
Illustrated by Andrew Stooke
(Jacana)
“A Story of Soccer, Magic and Mandela.” What a charming discovery! This has the true lilt of storytelling, the right blend of folk magic, the adventurous desire of youth and – who would have thought it? – a link with soccer, the universal game of Africa.
The writing is polished and punchy; the illustrations atmospheric and highly effective. The soccer quest takes our small hero from the bundu and its fearsome animals all the way to the big city of Cape Town. Amid the richness of discovery and the poverty of daily living, the desire to say “I was there” in a live Bafana Bafana match comes true – as it had to. A magical book with layers of delights.
REVIEW ARCHIVES