This rivetting children's story was written by the Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe who is famous for his adult novels, and sadly, yesterday he died. The story is a fable based on an earlier story told by John Iroaganachi and it includes a poem by Christopher Okigbo who was killed in the Nigerian civil war so it is very much a story of the context of Nigeria's political system at the time. It has been reillustrated for this version by Mary GrandPre and the illustrations are as dramatic as the writing.
Next week I will revisit this beautiful book with my children as we have been doing a unit of work looking at various African pourquoi stories and this will make a fitting conclusion and allow for spirited discussion.
So interesting. I didn't know he'd done anything for children. I'm going to see if my library has it.
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