Song of Be (Puffin Fiction) [Paperback]

Lesley Beake (Author)

Book Description

Series: Puffin Fiction | Publication Date: June 1, 1995

Be is a Bushwoman, and her tribe's way of life is changing. Though they still live in simple huts and shelters, modern technology is slowly becoming part of their lives. The process of change is not easy, and Be's story is one of sadness, yet also a story of love, courage and dignity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in newly independent Namibia, this novel gracefully places a tender coming-of-age tale into a political context. Raised in the Nyae Nyae area of the Kalahari Desert, Be--a Ju/'hoan (Bushman) girl--leaves the cozy warmth of her extended family group when she accompanies her mother to Ontevrede, the farm where her grandfather has worked for years. While her mother strives to please her new employer, Kleinbaas, Be becomes the protegee of the farmer's wife, who teaches the Ju/'hoan girl to read and write. A painful series of events forces Be to a deeper understanding of the Ju/'hoan people's struggles to retain the essence of their traditional way of life, and of her own family's complicated involvement with Kleinbaas and his wife. Love, too, comes to Be--in the form of dashing Khu, who arrives at the farm in his red four-wheel-drive to insure that Be and her family register to vote in their country's first democratic elections. Because it focuses on a handful of convincingly developed characters, the story is never overwhelmed by its political message and by the copious amount of information it conveys. Beake's understated evocations of the African landscape have the nearly tangible quality of a sense memory. Thoughtful and provocative. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-Be's story tells of change among the San (or Bushmen, as the author says they prefer to be called) of Namibia. Her life emerges in flashbacks as she feels herself dying from a self-inflicted, poisoned-arrow wound. A young woman, probably in her mid teens, she remembers her warm and gentle childhood, broken by a trek with her mother to the Boer farm where her grandfather has worked for decades. The farmer's strangely fragile wife takes to the child and becomes her companion and teacher. When tragedy strikes the farm and Be concludes that she has betrayed everyone she loves, she leaves to try to return to her childhood place, only to find it empty. Through these events and settings, Beake successfully creates images more true to present-day Bushman realities than those of still-popular descriptions from the 1950s and '60s. Here readers see a people destructively drawn into barely paid farm labor, the army, alcohol, and unemployment. Yet Beake also offers the hope that the Bushmen will grow again in pride and identity as they work together to reestablish their values through their newly independent nation. The well-constructed plot's suspense holds readers' attention. The characters are interesting and believable; Be comes across as real and empathetic. Simple language, sometimes touching on the poetic, tries to catch the feel and perspective of someone from this hunter/gatherer culture. This novel will interest YAs who enjoy reading about people who share their common humanity though their lives are lived in profoundly different ways.
Loretta Kreider Andrews, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140374981
• ISBN-13: 978-0140374988
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,149,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Song of Be, an amazing tale . . ., April 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Song of Be (Puffin Fiction) (Paperback)

Song of Be is an extraordinary book. You have to read it over at least twice to fully understand it, but its worth it. It focuses on the life of a young African girl, a bushman, who moves to a farming plantation with her mother. She finds out to much about her past, and pays a harsh price for it. This book is a realistic fiction novel, as the bushman were really put through similar situations. I rate it five stars, and recommend for anyone to read it.