Jamila and her little sister are frightened by the loud city noises at their new apartment, but they find comfort in recalling the stories their great-grandma used to tell about life in Africa.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4AAlone in their apartment while their mother is at work, Jamila and her little sister, Zakiya, are frightened by the strange nighttime sounds of their new neighborhood. To give herself courage, Jamila remembers the stories about Africa that her great-grandmother told her, imagining she hears "raindrops sizzlin' on sun-scorched soil and a herd of wildebeests thunderin'." The voices in the street are hyenas fighting over scraps of food, she tells Zakiya, and the car horn blaring is an elephant at the watering hole. Even their neighbor who stops by to check on them plays a part in the gameAshe is the head woman wearing a "kente cloth robe." This poetically told story pays tribute to the imaginative powers of children and will comfort young readers who are left in charge of their siblings. The softly colored paintings, done in oil wash on board, show the warmth and caring between the two sisters. Images of Africa are subtlety woven into the realistic backdrop of the girls' apartment. The text is too long for storytime, but would work well as a reassuring bedtime story. Parents in search of picture books about moving to a new home will find this title useful, along with Angela Johnson's The Leaving Morning (Orchard, 1992).ADawn Amsberry, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 5^-8. The neighborhood is edged with violence and unrest: a "nasty place," thinks Jamila, whose job is to care for her little sister, Zakiya, when their mother goes to work. It's a responsibility that weighs heavily on Jamila; she's afraid, just like her little sister. But Jamila finds the strength she needs in stories about Africa that she heard from her great-gramma. Thanks to them, the scream of brakes on the street outside becomes the jubilant trumpet of the elephants; the thumping on the door becomes "a proud drum poundin'"; and the screaming sirens become monkeys, "high in the treetops . . . Fightin' over a juicy cocoa pod." Cooper's hazy yet saturated oil paintings are just right--eschewing gritty details for a warm, dappled blending of the real and the imagined: Zakiya in her bath; elephants in the sink. The quiet, unpretentious text is every bit as effective, with Kroll boldly confronting the harsh reality of inner-city life, and, at the same time, showing how the power of story and imagination can liberate, soothe, and help us survive. Stephanie Zvirin
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More About the Author
Virginia Kroll is the author of over fifty books for children and winner of a 2004 Children's choice award. A former elementary school teacher, she lives in New York with her husband and has raised six children of her own.
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