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Next week Camille Lagarrigue, author of the Miss Behave books will visit the Ricardo Mülder Community Library in Edenvale as part of their holiday programme. The event will be the first public reading of her second book, Miss Behave and the Sacred Cats of Ancient Egypt. Children will also have the opportunity to ask Camille all the questions they have about Miss Behave. There will also be

I just received a note from Camille Lagarrigue, author of the "Miss Behave... " series. She says: Hooray! Miss Behave and the Sacred Cats of Ancient Egypt is finally here! If you would like to get your paws on a signed copy please let her know. You can order a copy directly from her at R95. The book will also be available through local bookstores (Exclusive Books), but I'm not sure when.

I can't wait for the next SCWBI event in Johannesburg! The programme is primarily about books - What township kids are reading, the Exclusive Books IBBY SA awards, and Exclusive Books' Christmas Reading Lists. If you'd like to attend, please comtact Jenny Hatton via e-mail – [email protected] by 17 November at the latest. The event takes place at the Theo van Wijk Building, Room 8-46, at

I first saw I saw Gcina Mhlope, well-known South African poet, playwright; performer and author of children's books, tell a story over 15 years ago. She was a guest of the Mmabana Cultural Centre in Mafikeng, presenting at a writing workshop. I was just out of university, eager to learn the craft of writing so I could become a rich and famous author and not have to follow a career in the

I first met Janet Grace Riehl, of Riehl Life, when we both took part in the Lieurance-King Article Challenge in August/September. Janet is an award-winning author, artist, performer, and creativity coach. Her poems, stories, and essays have been widely published in national literary magazines such as “Harvard Review” and the anthologies “Stories to Live By: Wisdom to Help You Make the Most of

I first met Janet Grace Riehl, of Riehl Life, when we both took part in the Lieurance-King Article Challenge in August/September. It turned out Janet, who is American, spent some time in Africa, including Botswana, and has a section on her blog dedicated to Africa. I was honoured when she asked me as a guest blogger. Janet is an award-winning author, artist, performer, and creativity

There’s no doubt that today and the future is what matters, not the old moldy past that we can't even change. But it's also important to know where you and your family come from, so you can learn from previous accomplishments and avoid repeating the mistakes of your ancestors. As George Santayana said, those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Circumstances, such as your

Baby and I are doing research on Setswana culture. It’s part of her school project for the month, as it’s Heritage Month. She’s thrilled to discover some interesting bits of old culture about the Batswana people. “ Our culture is over a 1000 years old!” she exclaimed, putting up a hand for a high-five. I think it's going to be a very interesting journey for both of us, because there's so

LG Electronics SA has adopted Nomthandazo Children's Home in Benoni, near Johannesburg. The company says it will officially open the LG Nomthandazo Children's Home tomorrow as part of its women's day celebrations. LG has donated products to the value of R60 000 and a cash R10 000 towards the revamping of this home. This project is being supported by some of our local actors, celebrities and

I've posted another folktale retold. Enjoy! ........................................................................ The Tortoise and the Baboon Plant Fruit Trees “Let’s plant fruit trees,” Tortoise said to his friend Baboon. Baboon was lazy. He did not want to plant a fruit tree.“It’s too much work,” he said. Baboon said he always found enough food from other people’s trees.“Why should I

“Let’s plant fruit trees,” Tortoise said to his friend Baboon. Baboon was lazy. He did not want to plant a fruit tree. “It’s too much work,” he said. Baboon said he always found enough food from other people’s trees. “Why should bother to plant my own tree?” he asked. “So you can have your own fruit from your own trees. Then you won’t have to steal,” Tortoise said. Baboon did not want to work

Papi (Jorge) has set himself the target of writing one story a week.

I’m going to put a link to his blog, under Resources for Parents, so you can easily find him when looking for a new story to tell your kids.

Go Jorge! I hope he reaches his target of 50 stories in one year.

I have a 40th birthday coming up next month. As you can imagine, it’s a moment that lends itself to introspection about the life and the paths not taken. I decided some years ago not to make New Year or birthday resolutions, so I’m not feeling like I didn’t achieve set targets or anything. In general, I'm pretty happy with my life: the choices made and professional goals achived. I don't

One child one seed
Writer: Kathryn Cave
Photographer: Gisele Wulfsohn
Publisher: Giraffe Books, Pan Macmillan South Africa in Association with Oxfam
Published: 2002
ISBN: 9780620280884
Availability:Kalahari.net
Soft cover price: R54.86

It took us a while to get into “One Child One Seed,” mostly because the book has many layers and wasn’t meant to be entertaining.

The book is oldish, published in 2002, but it’s still worth reading today. It’s billed as a South African counting book, teaching children to count from one to ten through the story of Nothando. One child, one seed; two hands to plant the seed, three ways to help it grow and so on…..

The beautiful, vivid photographs show Nothando’s home life, and provide a good picture of how poor, rural South African communities live.

I was especially impressed with the accuracy with which the family unit is shown. It’s no traditional Ma, Pa and kids “ideal” picture of a family unit, but something that many South Africans would easily recognize.

“Nontando lives with her Aunt Nomusa (in red) and her Grandmother Betty (in blue). Her big sister and her mother are on the right of the picture, and her brother on the left. They live nearby and spend a lot of time with Nontando.”

The book also give a step by step guide on how to grow and nurture a pumpkin until it’s ripe, which you can use if you’re a keen gardener and would like to help your child something independently.

This book is a must-have.

On Mother’s Day Baby brought me tea and biscuits to bed, with a beautiful card and a flower on the tray. It was such a beautiful gesture!

Friends came over, so we just lazed about the house. It was a nice contrast from the busy schedule we set on Saturday.

On that day, two of Baby’s friends, aged 5 and 9 spent the day with us, and it was exhausting! They ran around the house, played some computer games, read a book, and then it was off to the mall to shop for shoes for Baby, eat lunch, browse bookshops and toy stores. The shopping went well, except the girls were so energetic and curious it was hard work keeping up with them.

Lunch was stressful – they insisted we go to McDonald’s and the place was packed. I hate waiting, so I dragged them off to a number of restaurants in the food court, and which were also packed.

Restaurants where they had open seats were not suited to entertaining kids and while Baby would have been just fine ordering a green salad, I wasn’t sure about her companions. So I had to suck it in and go back to McDonald’s.

“I’m going to work,” I said to the girls when we got home around four. Baby’s friends were due to be picked up around six, and all I wanted to do was sit down.

Writing, and responding to emails didn’t protect me from constant interruptions, having to mediate arguments and the girls’ loud music but it provided a good excuse to stay seated.

I was also asked to watch the girls do handstands and to judge who screams the loudest (a necessary skill, that!)

For me, days like this are rare, and I have to take my hat off for mothers who have two or more children under the age of ten and for whom juggling the needs of different kids is the norm.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day and your children showed you how much they appreciate who and what you are to them.

RHYMING RUSSEL BY PAT THOMSON AND CAROLINE CROSSLAND
Published by Collins, an imprint of Harper Collins

Baby and I thoroughly enjoyed Rhyming Russell by Pat Thomson and Caroline Crossland, which she brought from the school library. It’s an old book, published in 1990 and it’s about a boy who couldn’t stop speaking in rhyme.

The humour had us in stitches and I appreciated the fact that the characters were not stereotypes of people’s roles.

Mum and Dad flip a coin to decide who’ll fix the fence, grandpa is fantastically good at knitting and sells his work through some expensive shops, and the sister tinkers with car engines. This is the kind of book that makes kids want to read, and I wish I’d written it.

STORIES SHOULD TOUCH PEOPLE'S HEADS AND HEARTS

Today I unsubscribed from what used to be one of my favourite writing newsletters. The content, which is written by a variety of writers, is as strong as ever, and I suspect I will occasionally pop to the web site for a quick read. But the excitement and impatience that used to drive me to regularly check my inbox on the day the newsletter came out is gone.

And the reason is that the new editor-chief is not talking to me. The previous owner/editor in-chief wrote chatty editorials about her writing projects, things that made her happy/sad/annoyed or that we simply interesting for working writers to know.

She spoke about the craft of writing in a way I could easily relate to. She was like a friend who had walked a difficult path and come out a winner and would hold my hand to do the same. The new editor-in-chief completely fails to do this.

I waited for months before deciding to move on, as I’ve been a subscriber since 2000 and was a very loyal reader. Each week I would wait anxiously for the newsletter to arrive, hoping that the next editorial would be better and speak to me. It didn’t.

She writes about issues in a very intellectual way, and can easily support her arguments with documented fact. Some of the issues she raises are being debated on the blogosphere, so there is no doubt that her editorials hold some relevance for our times. But somehow, she misses the mark, and fails to speak to my head or heart.

Her editorials don’t help me see the world differently, and they certainly don’t make me care about the issues she raises.

What has happened to this newsletter, and my decision to unsubscribe, is a strong lesson on what we as writers should strive for: to touch our readers' heads and hearts.

There is no denying that the SA publishing environment primarily serves the educational market, but if my story doesn't grab the acquisition editor by the throat and make her read until the end, how I am going get her to buy it?

How am I going to encourage the love of books and reading, if my stories don't make kids want to turn another page until then end, and then find another book I wrote?