Yoruba Girl Dancing [Paperback]

Simi Bedford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1994

In the tradition of The Whiteness of Bones, the poignant, funny, and utterly winning story of an African girl's metamorphasis into an upper-class English schoolgirl--with an edge. Bedford, who herself survived leaving Nigeria behind for England, turns her heroine's passage through the labyrinth of race and culture into a bittersweet but triumphant odyssey.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A semiautobiographical first novel about a Nigerian girl's adjustment to life at an English boarding school, this is an affecting and mordant appraisal of British social mores of the '50s. Remi is six when she is deposited at the upper-crust Chilcott Manor School (where the uniform tunic is "nigger brown"). There, the former darling of a close-knit and aristocratic Lagos family must endure the scrutiny and derision of her classmates, one of whom spreads the word that "the black rubs off." Tracing Remi's adaptions to life among the British while she maintains the inevitable distance of the outsider, Bedford establishes a simultaneously wistful and cynical piquancy. Even when Remi seems to have fully assimilated, she is asked to dance by a young man who adds, "Are you considered attractive in your own country?" Bedford, a native of Nigeria who moved to Britain as a child and now lives in London, has written a wise and provocative book that might even prompt some soul-searching in the social circles she has skewered.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Winsome Remi narrates Bedford's autobiographical debut novel. The heedlessly pampered daughter of a wealthy Nigerian family, Remi gets yanked from her laughing nurses and stately grandmother at her father's command and is taken to England by her white step-grandmother. Suddenly, she becomes outsized, naive, and--most damningly--black. At boarding school, Remi comes to understand the dynamics of stereotyping. She learns anger and, blessedly, amusement. The book falters toward the end, as Remi's voice occasionally lapses into time-consuming reportage, taking her from six to 16 in a hurry. She ends her story confident and proud among fellow Londoners of color. The sympathetic, witty narrator and the issues her story raises recommend this flawed but pleasing, exuberant novel, particularly to YA audiences.
- Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1992 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: 192 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140232931
• ISBN-13: 978-0140232936
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #352,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yoruba Girl please don't dance!, May 19, 2002

By 

alicia giutna (Santa Rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yoruba Girl Dancing (Paperback)

In the novel Yoruba Girl Dancing the author Simi Bedford describes the life of a young girl through the trials and tribulations of her life. The main character Remi is born into a privileged large Nigerian family. At the age of 6 she is sent to a very exclusive all girl boarding school in England. Feeling alienated because she was the only black girl in a school full of perfect English girls. She gets ridiculed for her culture and race. It isn't easy being different, but Remi has to cope with it and she needs to understand that people are different. In dealing with this and going to school, she has to realize who she really is and what she truly stands for and believes in.
This novel is very interesting, yet sometimes slow. Often relating to the main character I thought that this book was generally an easy read. The vocabulary was slightly challenging at times. The authors use of poetic detail was beautiful. " The music poured through our veins and we flowed with the beat, each separate portion of our bodies winding and unwinding seamlessly as if we had no bones."
The way she writes even the slightest thing like listening to music makes you want to read on. I would recommend this book to the grade levels of seven and eight. I think that they could both appreciate and understand the text at this age. They might also be able to relate to the main character. The topic isn't that serious, and the vocabulary is generally easy. I really don't think that it is that interesting to someone older than that because of the maturity of the characters in the book. It also deals with problems that most people face in middle school. Once you are in high school you may not exactly know who you are yet but you do have opinions. Overall I would rate this book

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can she dance?, May 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Yoruba Girl Dancing (Paperback)

Simi Bedford wrote a novel called Yoruba Girl Dancing. It's about a little girl name Remi Foster who was born in a Nigerian family, in Africa. She loves her family and accepts the way of life. She lives in an extended family and lives with love and culture all around her. But when she is around six years old she is moved by her father to England to become a perfect little English girl. She is sent where she is the only black girl in a school. She goes through being teased by her classmates, about her culture, and of what race she is from. Her family told her they would come back and she discovers lies.
She has to celebrate her holidays with strangers she has never met before. She realizes that she has to learn two different cultures and must make a choice which one she takes, which makes her Yoruba girl dancing.
The way she confronts the teasing and taunting shows me that she is a strong person. The book it's self I liked. The culture that is shown through a little girl's eyes is amazing. How her friend wants to make a spell on another girl just because she doesn't like her makes me laugh. I see myself when I was little and how my family was different to others families. It showed me that I was not alone. Simi the author, must have experienced the same thing when she was growing up. Remi is a strong girl. Remi lives most of her life in a different country, different culture and manages to survive with no one really shows her and guides her. She is ready for anything that comes across her path.
With a strong plot and exciting story and I would want any one in their pre-teens to read this book. If they like to read about change and differences in some ones life I would recommend you to read this book. It would lead you through a wave of emotions.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 stars for Yourba Girl, May 20, 2002

By 

louie (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yoruba Girl Dancing (Paperback)

Imagine being brought up in a huge house split into two; to where when you go downstairs you are in your Grandmothers part, then when you venture upstairs you are in your Grandfathers part. That's how life is in the life of Remi Foster, the main character in the novel by Simi Bedford, Yoruba girl dancing. In this novel Remi had to navigate through the maze of races, classes, and culture.
Yoruba girl dancing is set in the time after the second world war. And to me personally I find these times a very interesting time to read, watch and learn about. This novel to me wasn't as interesting as I thought it was going to be when I first picked it up and read the overview on the back of the novel. This young girl, Remi, who was born into a wealthy black family, was taken away from what was familiar to her and forced into a boarding school. The thing is that she's the only black girl in the whole school. The plot sounds interesting but the novel itself didn't keep my interest long.
Yoruba girl dancing is a novel for those who are interested into how horrible it was to be an African in these times. Even the wealthiest Africans had to deal with racism in these times. The novel is very well written and at sometimes is very confusing. The author includes how large Remi's family is and makes sure in include each and every family member in the novel.
I would think most readers will find this novel very interesting and add it to their collection, but as for me, I wouldn't add this novel in my home library because of how confused I got by all that happens and all the people who enter and leave the novel.