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Manu Herbstein,
Brave Music of a Distant Drum
Red Deer Press, 2011.

Ages: 16+

There are some stories that touch you and some that change you. This is what Kwame Zumbi discovers after a visit with his blind mother. Initially turned off by her physical condition and what Kwame sees as a sinful lifestyle (she refuses to call him by his Christian name and she doesn’t attend a Christian church), he eventually learns of a past that he has long forgotten and indeed that he has chose to forget. Ama has a story to tell, one that “lies within me, kicking like a child in the womb” and she summons her son, Kwame, to write it down as she dictates to him. Kwame is impatient with Ama and finds her “old and blind…unwell and…ugly,” but as her story unfolds, he realizes just how amazing her journey has been. From Ama’s comfortable beginnings in her hometown to her relationship with a Dutch governor that brought her across foreign waters to the hardships she faced while on the English slave ship, The Love of Liberty, Kwame learns not only about his earlier life, but ultimately just how powerful and influential his mother’s story can be.

Award-winning author, Manu Herbstein, blends fact with fiction to create a rich story that not only tells a heartwrenching and powerful tale of friendship, love, and loss, but also chonicles the history of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the scars that it has left behind. The topics found in Brave Music of a Distant Drum can be hard to read about (rape, cruel and unusual punishment, religious persecution), but Herbstein uses the calm and steady voice of Ama to serve as a means of “introduc[ing] a new generation of readers to this history and encourage them to broaden their knowledge of it.” In this way, readers learn about a different, often forgotten, aspect of slavery’s history.

Eventually, the reader realizes that Kwame has been the “blind” one and only when Ama comes to the end of her story does he realize the true strength of family. Herbstein doesn’t give the story a tidy ending, but instead, he ends on a realistic note. In this way, he is encouraging the reader to continue the conversation on a “taboo” subject by asking questions or doing their own research.

Brave Music of a Distant Drum is an amazing story that gives a deep, and sometimes difficult, account of the slave trade. It’s not an understatement to say that Herbstein’s tale is a vital part of history and a key to understanding cross-cultural relations today.

Keilin Huang
May 2012

Head on over to our PaperTigers Book Review page where we bring together in one place the best children’s and young adults’ multicultural book reviews published in several countries.

PaperTigers reviews are written by us and have an international scope, to keep you up to date on what is being published around the world. These reviews can also be accessed here on the blog under the category Weekend Book Reviews.

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From the USA, reviews by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a key resource for anyone interested in children’s books published in the USA;

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Adeline Foo, illustrated by Stephanie Wong,
The Diary of Amos Lee: Girls, Guts and Glory
Epigram (Singapore), 2009.

Ages 8-11

The Diary of Amos Lee: Girls, Guts and Glory is the second of three stories (so far) in Adeline Foo’s immensely popular series that charts Amos’ last three years at primary school. Amos writes his diary when he’s in the toilet, “to get away from my troubles”. Among other things, his troubles involve a bully Michael; what he considers betrayal in his friend Alvin making friends with a new girl, Somaly, who has recently arrived from Cambodia; and his annoying little sister WPI (that’s Whiny, Pesky and Irritating) bringing home a stray cat.

Of course, these and all the other situations disentangle themselves satisfactorily – Michael finally recognises the value of his team-mates, including Amos; Somaly not only becomes a friend but also an inspiration; and far from wanting rid of Tom the cat, Amos ends up as “official guardian of the world’s first three-legged cat” – it’s a long story! Along the way, Amos welcomes a new brother into the family. Amos and another friend, Anthony,also put together a science magazine: the first issue about reproduction in spiders and humans sells out; the second, about Tom’s adventures, is not quite so universally popular but certainly has its fans, too. And throughout, there is swimming training.

Amos Lee’s voice is both credible and hilarious, his concerns real and often touching. As well as the date, each entry has a heading, which emphasises the short, chapter-like bites of text. This would be a great book for reluctant readers, especially boys. Amos is curious and at times deliberately naughty, but he is also a very motivated child, and this motivation may well rub off on readers. No matter how hard he tries, Amos can’t keep his diary hidden from his mother, so her voice comes through intermittently, with comments and spelling corrections. Rather than being interfering, this helps to establish the solidity of Amos’ relationship with his family.

The book is well laid out, with different fonts and text sizes. Stephanie Wong’s expressive, often comical illustrations are dotted throughout, adding sparkle and further dynamism to the story. Wong’s facial expressions are very funny, and their variety is neatly offset by the very cute Tom’s repertoire of two – awake and asleep.

Adeline Foo has created a laugh-out-loud, un-put-downable book. Young readers will love Amos Lee’s Diaries, and their parents will like them too – if they can get a look in!

Marjorie Coughlan
August 2011

Sun Youjun, translated by Lily L. Shi,
The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll
Better Link Press, 2011.

Ages 8-10

“Once there was Little Butou. Little Butou was a tiny rag doll. Now I will tell you about his adventures, that is, his encounters with many interesting and exciting people and situations…” So begins The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll, originally published in 1961 in China, the first book by the prolific and beloved Hans Christian Andersen nominee, Sun Youjun, best known for his magical fairy tales.  The book’s availability in English is an adventure in itself: 13-year-old Lily Shi of Lewiston, Maine loved it so much that she wanted her friends to enjoy it too, so she spent the summer translating the book for them to read.  Thanks to her perseverance, an English translation is now available for the first time, published by Better Link Press.

The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll is part The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, part Toy Story, and part Scheherazade coming-of-age tale – of a doll, that is. Although Little Teacher made Little Butou with love and care out of scraps of rag, he was a little selfish, had a little bit of a temper, and was more than a little bit cowardly. After his original child owner, Dou Dou, rejects him, a warmhearted girl named Ping Ping takes Little Butou in.  But when Little Butou twice spills Ping Ping’s rice all over the ground, even after she tells him how every grain has value and must not be wasted, Little Butou runs away. He feels angry with Ping Ping for scolding him, and decides to find Dou Dou, who won’t care about things like rice grains.

Thereupon follows a tale of happenstance, adventure, misery, and miracles, as Little Butou winds up hundreds of miles from both Dou Dou and Ping Ping.  Danger and near death, new friends and recurring rat enemies help Little Butou not only learn to find courage, but also to value love – the love that goes into every grain of rice, and the love that people like Ping Ping show everyone around them.  The accomplished translation captures the rhythm and pacing of Chinese speech and sentence structure, imbuing a sense of the country into the words themselves.  In addition, the highly entertaining cast of characters and their magical realism-studded adventures keep the values within the story– selflessness, bravery, and gratefulness for kindness and love – from feeling preachy or forced.

Sara Hudson
July 2011