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This wonderful collection celebrates “talking drums,” of great significance in West African culture as “criers” beat messages from village to village, the rhythmic beats talking to the villagers along the way.
Influenced by a rich West African cultural heritage and Mother Goose rhymes, the author blends storytelling with cultural identity, creating rhymes in a “simple rhythmic language” for young children and beginning readers, a learning process of language and rhythm:
“Off to the sweet shores of Africa,
Off, with my harp and harmonica,
I’ll follow the walking, talking drum
To the land, where sunbirds hum.”
These particular rhymes are distinctly African, with cowrie shells, akara balls, palm, papaya, coral and mango trees and African places from the Sahara to Zambezi. Built on African mores and traditions, the rhymes inform and entertain, reinforcing the culture, rich ancestral history and pride in African descent.
The illustrations that complement the rhymes are unique, projecting images of the African countryside: the indigenous people, animals, fauna and flora, the scorching ball of yellow sun, straw-hatted huts, the colorful garments of children at play, velvet deep nights, myriad stars twinkling above the sleeping village:
“What is the pale moon made of?
What is the pale moon made of?
Of cowrie shells and ivory
Dipped in the shimmering, silvery sea
And tossed up like a rubber ball
To be gazed upon by all.”
Family, tradition, the nurturing of children; the author has written beautiful phrases of place and childhood, accompanied by truly inspirational illustrations:
“We’re marching across the desert sands,
We’re marching away to distant lands,
Crinch! Crunch! Crinch! Crunch!
At night we sing and clap our hands,
And stamp our feet on golden sands.”
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Luan Gaines/2006 for curled
up with a good kid's book |
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Off to the Sweet Shores of Africa: And Other Talking Drum Rhymes