Review : Sikulu & Harambe
My kids are extremely very lucky tiny people. When I got “Sikulu & Harambe : By the Zambezi River” in the mail, I was already very excited. When my 6 year old saw this book on the table, he immediately wanted me to read it during bedtime. Guess what? It’s day 5 and he still insists on reading this book first.
Initially, I had to read it out to them and explain a few things like kindness, and chitenge. The beautiful and colorful illustrations and simple storyline kept them enthralled. I really liked the part where it says, “Kindness is its’ own reward”, and that people should never expect to be rewarded for a kind deed.
What is this story about? It’s basically a Good Samaritan story, with an African twist. It introduces two characters, Sikulu (see-coo-lu) and Harambe (ha-ram-bay), a spider and a hippo, respectively. It’s the first of the series, which means, there’s more to come! YAY!
I had a fantastic opportunity to interview Kunle Oguneye (the author) and I am very happy to share with you what his answers are :
1) What inspired you to write and publish Sikulu & Harambe?
[Kunle] Just before my two-year old son was born, my wife and I went looking for books for him. To our surprise, we found that there was very little African content on the shelves. I realized that a lot of our culture had been oral and it was now time for us to start capturing our history and culture in written form.
I wrote the book to entertain my son, to share the wonderful stories of Africa with all children, and also to start preserving the history and culture of African people.2) I could see that you founded a non-profit org and successfully managed to obtain 540 PCs for African schools. Good on you! What was the toughest challenge you faced while trying to raise awareness for your cause?
[Kunle] The toughest challenge was raising money. We were constantly trying to raise funds and that took away from our effectiveness. If we had the funds, we would have been able to accomplish much more.and lastly,
3) Why did you choose a spider and a Hippo?
[Kunle] I chose the spider because I wanted a character that most of the world would recognize. Sikulu is based on Anansi, the trickster in Ghanian folklore. I wanted Sikulu to have the positive attributes of Anansi, such as his cleverness and ability to find a solution to any problem. At the same time, I don’t want him to have any of the tricky and cunning attributes that Anansi also has.The hippopotamus was chosen because I see a real problem in American society. Children are lumped into groups from a very early stage. You are either a geek, a jock, popular or non-existent. Many of the so-called jocks are big and athletic. As a result they focus their energies solely on athletics and neglect academics. Harambe is the more introsepective and nuanced character. He complements Sikulu’s energy and impulsive nature.
It’s a really wonderful book, introducing my kids to other cultures and people. They even learnt about Africa (the Zambezi River in Zambia, etc) and that there are different ways of pronouncing certain words. My 6 year old loved the word, “ESHULA!” and that was the first word he pronounced correctly, when he re-read the book.
Did you know that there are Sikulu and Harambe soft toys already available? How I wish I could get my hands on them!
I am waxing lyrical about this book, simply because it is a very good book. Teaches lil kids that sometimes even though it’s hard to help someone, one does always feel good about themselves after that. I’m sure Kunle went through a lot of obstacles while raising funds for PCs to be given to schools in Africa, but I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s all worthed it.
Thanks to Parent Reviewers for this fantastic opportunity!
Author: Kunle Oguneye
Illustrated by: Brian McCorkindale
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Blue Brush Media (July 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977738248
ISBN-13: 978-0977738243
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