Customer Reviews

When Africa Was Home

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My daughter and I were simply delighted with this book, and we are voracious readers of tales from foreign lands. For the protagonist, a little American boy born in Africa, Africa is not another place, a foreign country, but the home that he knows and loves, described poignantly through the eyes of a child. It is the USA that is foreign and strange to him, although he acclimates with a sort of resigned acceptance. I won't spoil it by telling the end; I can only say that I hope you and your children enjoy it as much as we did.

My parents gave me this book for Christmas a few years ago, and, although I am a grown man, and I left Africa 15 years ago now, this book makes me cry, and want to return home. Like Peter, I'm a white African, although I'm a Kenyan. I miss Kenya, and even if I never get a chance to return, it will always be Home.

This book is a great gift for "third culture" kids, as well as for those trying to understand what it's like for kids to leave home and move far away.

I was given this book as a graduation present when I left Malawi, the setting of the book, to come to university in America. I adore this book. The illustrations are incredibly beautiful pastels. The colors are fantastic and the people have wonderfully expressive faces. The story is sweet. I can identify with the main character because of my upbringing as a white child in Southern Africa. However, I think that the experience of moving away from home and being homesick is a universal one. For any child, being taken from a familiar to a strange situation is difficult. The only drawback the story might have in that sense is that the main character is able to return to Malawi at the end of the story. While that is hopeful, there are children who will not be able to return to their former homes or lives. For those children, this could be a hard book.

There are several examples of Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, in the book. All of the words are used accurately. The Chichewa words are not difficult for a parent or teacher reading the book as all of the words are pronounced phonetically.

I used this book during a multi-culture unit in my first grade class. Each teacher chose a different country to emphasize. I chose Malawi, since I had visited there, had relatives who lived there as children, and no other teacher knew where Malawi is located. It's the story of an anglo boy raised among the Malawian people, then returned to America, and dreamed of one day returning to Africa. Good, sensitive presentation of culture.

This beautiful book is about a Caucasian American boy living in Africa with his parents (his father was working there), his experiences with his African nanny, friends and the nature arround.People: like wonderful extended family, nature: wonderful playground. There is so much warmth in human relations, warmth in nature, fun and freedom, the author and the illustrator also have strong sensitivity to toward the natural world.. When the boy's parents need to move back to US, as the work contract expires, the boy has difficulity to fit into a society and natural environment which is new to him, including snow and Winter clothes. He is missing his other mother (the nanny), and his a African siblings, is home sick for Africa.(His nanny called him "little son," his friends called him "little brother"). I don't want to tell the ending of the story, in order not to spoil it. Beautiful, realistic illustrations in pastel are capturing the beauty of the story, people and nature, and outdoor fun. I highly recommend this book.

The only minor thing: not wearing a hat as sun protection, as was recommended tot he boy by his two mothers is of course not a good idea form the boy' s side, bu this can be easily explained to a child.

This book will also touch the hearts of adults, specially expatriates, and will help children who encounter people who emigrated from other countries to be curious about personal experiences of living in another culture.