Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke, illustrated by Lauren Tobia, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

Anna Hibiscus is an engaging chapter book for readers aged 6 and upwards, and charts the adventures of the eponymous heroine in her colourful African life. At a time when there is a welcome drive toward diversity in children’s fiction, this is a warm and inviting story for early readers. 

Anna lives with her boisterous, extended family in an ‘old white house’ near an unspecified African city. Her father is African, her mother Canadian, and she has young twin brothers Double and Trouble, together with her grandparents, many aunties and uncles and 'big' and 'little' cousins. The sense of community is strong, and the reader is given a view of a new way of living. Character names are inventive — Chocolate, Auntie Comfort, Uncle Bizi Sunday, Wonderful to name a few — and the vibrant settings, rituals of life, dress codes, manners and expectations are sprinkled throughout the story to give a strong visceral sense of everyday African life. 

In fact, the theme of comparing worlds runs through the whole book. It is not only the reader who learns about another culture: Anna Hibiscus and her family explore these differences, too. Anna’s Canadian mother offers another perspective on everyday choices — should they spend a holiday as an immediate family unit, or with the whole extended family? Is peace and quiet better than noisy hustle and bustle? Similarly, Anna’s Auntie Comfort now lives in America and returns home to visit. We see how she feels about her African heritage, and how her family at home responds to her new life. Likewise, traditional life rubs alongside modern technology and developments. Anna, too, has a lively mind, and she is curious and tests her boundaries, both within the world she knows and by looking to countries beyond.

The illustrator, Lauren Tobia, adds much to the storytelling by giving visual clarification to young readers with her friendly, personable drawings.

This book is divided into four chapters and each tells a self-contained story. The style is simple and evocative. For instance, when Anna's father is faced with a problem, he goes swimming: '[his head] was a black ball in the waves. A black ball getting smaller and smaller. Just before it disappeared, it began to grow big again. Anna's father swum back with an idea.'  Every chapter starts with a similar refrain, inviting us to sink into ‘amazing Africa’, and ends with Anna Hibiscus (and, vicariously, the reader) learning a life lesson. We realise the value of family, of remembering where you come from while also adapting to change, the importance of seeing things from someone else’s perspective, and how great things happen when you use your initiative to follow a dream.   

Most importantly, although the stories describe unfamiliar cultures and places, there is much that a young reader will find to identify with in Anna’s curiosity and liveliness. The tone of the stories is good-natured and speckled with humour. I was left with the impression that there is more that unites those of different cultures than divides them, that the whole world itself is a colourful community to enjoy.

www.sarahhammond.org

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The No.1 Car Spotter, by Atinuke - reviewed by John Dougherty

Most of the books I read when I was a child were about middle-class English children. When a child from another culture appeared it was generally their otherness rather than their childness that was the issue - except, of course when they were notionally children from another culture but behaved pretty much like middle-class English children with funny names. Similarly, those other cultures - when they appeared - were normally reduced to their differences from British culture.

That’s just one reason to celebrate Atinuke, who in Oluwase Babatunde Benson (better known as No. 1, the No.1 car spotter in the village) has created a character who is very much a real boy first and foremost, but who is also an authentic African child, living in a modern African village, and is therefore - to the best of my knowledge - pretty much unique in children’s literature.

The young European reader will be intrigued by some of the facts of life which No.1 takes for granted. Whilst he and his mother and sister and grandmother live together in the village, “my father, of course, lives in the city” like all the other men of working age. When Grandmother falls ill, she needs money before the doctor will see her. The entire village travels to market together to sell their home-grown produce.

Yet what makes this lovely little book really special is not the insight into life in semi-rural Africa, but No.1 himself. He’s enthusiastic, affectionate, creative, independent, dependable - the sort of child everyone would like to have as a friend - and readers will identify with him at least as much as they’ll be intrigued by his lifestyle.

The book is made up of 4 short stories about No.1’s life and family. In the first, the village cart breaks just as it’s due to be loaded for market, and only No.1’s quick thinking saves the day. In the second, Auntie Fine-Fine puts No.1 in an embarrassing position when she sends him to buy lipstick for her. The third story tells of how No.1 almost loses his prized nickname when greed for his friend Coca-Cola’s mother’s cooking leads him to desert his chores; whilst the fourth poses an interesting moral dilemma for No.1 when a way of finding the money for the doctor presents itself.

These are great little stories, told in a distinctive voice, perfect for reading aloud or alone. Yes, they’re educational, insofar as they’ll challenge the reader to think beyond his or her own culture and living conditions, but most importantly, they’re a lot of fun. And from the look of this video of Atinuke reading from the book, so is their author. It's thoroughly recommended, and I'm hoping there'll be more to follow this and its recently-published sequel, The No.1 Car Spotter and the Firebird.



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