With the FIFA World Cup underway in South Africa, I thought it would be a good time to highlight some of the children’s literature resources in that country. While surfing the internet for information on the subject I came across Zoe Toft’s delightful blog Playing by the Book. Zoe resides in the UK with her husband and two young, bi-lingual daughters and says her blog is “a review of kids’ books and the crazy, fun stuff they inspire us to do”.
In her recent post Catching South African Fever, Zoe and her girls read The Dove (Dianne Stewart, illustrated by Jude Daly) and then, based on the beaded trinkets and animals mentioned in the story, made their own beaded artwork. Zoe has allowed us to share her photos and her review of the book here but I encourage you to visit her blog to read the entire post as she has also compiled an excellent list of resources for South African children’s literature.
The Dove, set in the South African province of Natal, tells the story of Lindi and her Grandmother who are tying to make ends meet after a flood destroys crops and sweeps away many animals. They make beaded trinkets to sell in tourist shops in Durban but have little success until they decide instead of their usual keyrings to make a dove, inspired by the first animal on their land after the flood had subsided. Their beaded animals and people are a hit and now Lindi and her Grandmother need not worry about having enough money until the next harvest.
M loved the story because of the sewing/creating theme, J enjoyed the small details in the illustrations (which actually reminded me a little of Gauguin in their style), and I loved the story for its freshness and believability – it was a great introduction for my girls into (what seems to me) “real” South Africa, rather than a version you might find preserved in an open air museum (although it would be very interesting to hear what any South African readers have to say about the themes in this book). This story set in modern South Africa would be the perfect read before holidaying there – a great way to start thinking about the people behind the trinkets we might bring back from visiting there.
Inspired by this ge
ntle book I ordered a selection of African beads and buttons and M used these beads to create two pieces of art. We used some embroidery hoops we’d picked up in a charity shop, a large needle and some embroidery thread and then M set about designing her African villages and se
With the Football World Cup kicking off tomorrow in South Africa it seems like a perfect opportunity to find out a little more about children’s picture books from South Africa. Although I’ve done a fair bit of research (more on this below), I have been rather hampered by the fact that our local library has recently closed “for the foreseeable future” because asbestos has been discovered there… I feel bereft!
Anyway, through the online library catalogue and inter-library loan and a bus trip to another library we’ve come up with a book that we’ve really taken to – The Dove by Dianne Stewart, illustrated by Jude Daly.
The Dove, set in the South African province of Natal, tells the story of Lindi and her Grandmother who are tying to make ends meet after a flood destroys crops and sweeps away many animals. They make beaded trinkets to sell in tourist shops in Durban but have little success until they decide instead of their usual keyrings to make a dove, inspired by the first animal on their land after the flood had subsided. Their beaded animals and people are a hit and now Lindi and her Grandmother need not worry about having enough money until the next harvest.
Photo: mickeymox
M loved the story because of the sewing/creating theme, J enjoyed the small details in the illustrations (which actually reminded me a little of Gauguin in their style), and I loved the story for its freshness and believability – it was a great introduction for my girls into (what seems to me) “real” South Africa, rather than a version you might find preserved in an open air museum (although it would be very interesting to hear what any South African readers have to say about the themes in this book). This story set in modern South Africa would be the perfect read before holidaying there – a great way to start thinking about the people behind the trinkets we might bring back from visiting there.
Inspired by this gentle book I ordered a selection of African beads and buttons from The African Fabric Shop – a favourite place of mine if a non-book treat is in order. M used these beads to create two pieces of art – one for her room, and one for J’s room. We used some embroidery hoops we’d picked up in a charity shop, a large needle and some embroidery thread and then M set about designing her African villages and sewing them in place.
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The bead work looks lovely. I imagine the beads would have felt good to work with.
Yes, it’s always lovely to work with beautiful object – a treat instead of using recycled loo rolls and computer paper!
THANK YOU for doing all this research on South Africa for us- I will be headed to my asbestosis-free library to check out some of these gems!
You always have the best lists of links. I appreciate the amount of time that must have gone into them. Those bead villages are beautiful! Thanks for the book recommendation – I love books that introduce my children to different cultures.