Thursday, 20 August 2015

The Fire Children by Eric Maddern and Frane Lessrc (Children's, Picture book, 9/10E)

 

May 2015, Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 32 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Content: some not so cute parts

Summary from Quarto Knows
The first man and woman are lonely. What to do? They decide to fashion children out of clay. As they are baking the little figures in their fire, they're constantly interrupted by visits from the sky-god, Nyame. As a result, some of the children are pale and underdone, some are left in so long that they come out very dark, and the rest are every shade between. - See more at: http://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781847806529/The-Fire-Children.html#sthash.iqtOF3Zx.dpuf
The first man and woman are lonely. What to do? They decide to fashion children out of clay. As they are baking the little figures in their fire, they're constantly interrupted by visits from the sky-god, Nyame. As a result, some of the children are pale and underdone, some are left in so long that they come out very dark, and the rest are every shade between.
 
Nayu's thoughts
I've heard a much shorter version of this interesting West African creation story, so I was eager to read the full one. The style of illustrations matched the feel of the story, with lots of greenery and trees. I did find the children all laid out rather creepy, as well as the features of the deity, but it's good to learn how others view the creation of man, and hopefully sparks interest in the reader for their own views as well as investigating more creation stories.

Find out more on Eric's website and Frane's website.

Available from bookshops including NRC affiliate Foyles.

Suggested read
Another cultural read can be found in The Leopard Boy by Julia Johnson (Children's, 7 years +, 8/10E)

No comments: