Verdict: carrot
My First Book of Southern African Wildlife is a must-have!
Children will be kept entertained for hours paging through this book.While their eyes roam the pages looking at all the pictures of mammals, birds and reptiles, they’ll be learning loads, too.
Names of animals are given in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu.
Book Details
Verdict: carrot
Although the characters in Wolfstorm fall a bit flat, according to reviewer Jenny de Klerk, there is action and adventure enough to make this book a carrot for 10-12 year olds.
There are lots of exclamation marks in this fast-paced adventure written by Zimbabwean author Ian Pugh. There’s not much characterisation, but plenty of action as Danny and his friends race from the future to the past, taking on time cops, time hogs and even Adolf Hitler.
Yes, you guessed it, they have a time machine. They have a really cool flying motorbike too. They also have some amazing futuristic game capabilities.
Book Details
Verdict: mostly carrots. It’s Troy Blacklaws’ Bafana Bafana wot gets the stick.
ANY rugby fan will cherish this book [Mauled] on the Castle South Africa 2009 Lions series which took place throughout last year.
As a photographer I’m going to be biased right from the start and say it’s the images that made me grab this book faster than Victor Matfield or Bakkies Botha ever could – and hold onto it.
Book Details
Scribd.com book preview:
Springbok Miscellany: From the earliest days to the modern era
Uitspraak: wortel
Die moderne sprokiesboek is uiteindelik hier.
Só verwys Riana Scheepers na Linda Rode se nuwe sprokiesboek, In die Nimmer-Immer-Bos. Dié boek bring sprokies van regoor die wêreld byeen (nie net Europese sprokies nie) en sluit ook van Rode se eie verhale in.
Scheepers noem Rode die “supervrou” van kinderliteratuur en is veral beïndruk deur haar “byderwetse en klanknabootsende taalvermoë”.
Die Bybel skryf in Spreuke oor ’n wonderlike vrou, die deugdelike Mevrou, in Spreuke 31. Hierdie vrou is voortreflik in alles wat haar kloeke hand vind om te doen: Sy is hardwerkend, regverdig, slim, energiek en vrygewig. As sy haar mond oopmaak, dan kom daar wyse woorde uit. Die Bybel sê dit nie, maar dié mevrou was seker nog ’n voortreflike kok en minnaar óók, en natuurlik was haar kinders nooit gruwelik nie. Kortom, sy was ’n supervrou.
In die Afrikaanse kinderliteratuur het ons ook ’n vrou. Haar naam is Linda Rode. Slaan sy haar hand aan ’n teks, of dit nou in die rol van samesteller, redakteur óf skrywer is, dan kan die leser maar weet: die resultaat is ’n deeglike, slim, energieke, vrygewige, pragtige boek.
Boekbesonderhede
Verdict: carrot
The Parisian writer, Marguerite Abouet, sets her “Aya” series in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where she was born.
Marguerite Abouet’s hugely popular series of books, centred on the life of a young woman in a cheerful Ivory Coast suburb, show an Africa far from stereotypes of war and disease.
The characters in Aya Of Yopougon grapple with everyday issues like love, family, growing up, pregnancy, marriage – set mostly in a Abidjan suburb that is colourfully illustrated by Abouet’s partner, Frenchman Clement Oubrerie.
“We call it ‘Yop City’, like in an American film,” says young Aya in one of the five comic-book novels.
Book Details
Image courtesy Drawn and Quarterly
Uitspraak: wortel
Magriet se storie begin saam met Magriet se onthou. Ander dinge wat Magriet weet, kom nie van onthou nie, maar van wat haar ma altyd vertel het.
Maar Magriet se onthou loop terug na die oggend toe hulle gehoor het dat hulle van die plaas in die Stormberge af moet weggaan.
Dit was vir Magriet ontsettend pynlik om afskeid te neem. Veral van haar geliefde ouma saam met wie sy altyd allerhande avonture op die plaas meegemaak het. Terselfdertyd was sy opgewonde, want sy kon sien dit maak haar ouers gelukkig om Tranvaal toe te trek.
Boekbesonderhede
Verdict: carrot
IF your young teenager is keen on fantasy novels, this is the book for him or her. South African-born Maggie Fikkert has written a captivating tale of mystery and fantasy, set in the most historically resonant place in the world, the Cradle of Humankind.
Book Details
Verdict: carrot
In warm and simple words, Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu reaches out to children everywhere with his inspiring message of love and forgiveness in the book, God’s Dream.
Published by Jacana Media, the book, which was co-authored by Douglas Carlton Abrams and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, is available in all 11 South African languages.
Book Details
Verdict: carrots
Books Editor of the Witness, Margaret von Klemperer, gives two carrots to two youth books – Long Walk to Freedom (the abridged and illustrated version) and Fiona Ingram’s more exotic The Secret of the Sacred Scarab.
THIS IS an attractively presented hardcover version of Nelson’s Mandela’s autobiography, simplified and abridged by Chris van Wyk (Shirley, Goodness and Mercy). The illustrations by Paddy Bouma are lively and add an appealing dimension to the text.
Book Details
Verdict: carrot
“The story could be said to be a meditation on race, race consciousness and the all-pervasive and persistent effects of apartheid on this nation’s psyche,” says the reviewer:
I groaned when I started to read this book and wanted to return it to the books editor, pleading constitutional inability to review it. I just couldn’t face yet another tale of horror and misery. However, I persevered and I’m glad I did.
The book is based on the author’s experiences as a childcare worker in a children’s home in Bloemfontein. She knows of what she writes, and as a survivor of state boarding schools, I can attest to the truth she tells.
