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ADI OF BOUTANGA

Name: ADI OF BOUTANGA
Author: Alain Serge Dzotap
ISBN: 9780802856296

A STORY FROM CAMEROON

by Alain Serge Dzotap ; illustrated by Marc Daniau ; translated by Alain Serge Dzotap ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2025

A vivid account of Cameroonian village life.

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When a 13-year-old Cameroonian Muslim girl faces the prospect of early marriage, her parents find a way to help her continue her education instead.

Adi’s people, the Mbororos, are nomadic herders who move from village to village. Adi loves attending school, swimming in the river, and making dolls for her younger sisters. But her happy existence is threatened when her uncle Amadou announces that Adi is now a woman, and it’s time for her to marry, like the other girls in her village. Her parents object, but per Mbororo custom, the eldest son must be obeyed, so they hatch a plan to sneak Adi out of town. Adi is sad to leave her family, but she knows that she’ll be safer at Mama Ly’s school in Boutanga. There, she becomes accustomed to a new life with other girls. The author’s note and backmatter offer more information about life in Cameroon. Translated from French by the author, the straightforward prose speaks to a young girl’s joys and fears while also giving readers a sense of life in Adi’s village, such as the effects of modernization as people take on new jobs. Adi has a memorable voice, and readers will be heartened to see how her family’s creative problem-solving results in positive change. The text is set against patterned backgrounds, adding visual interest; Daniau’s stylized, richly hued illustrations help the narrative come alive.

A vivid account of Cameroonian village life. (author’s note, further information, glossary) (Fiction. 7-11)

Pub Date: April 15, 2025

ISBN: 9780802856296

Page Count: 60

Publisher: Eerdmans

Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GIFT
by Alain Serge Dzotap ; illustrated by Delphine Renon

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)