For You Are a Kenyan Child

by Kelly Cunnane, Ana Juan (Illustrator)

Overview

Introduce young readers to the life of a Kenyan child in this sweetly imagined, whimsically illustrated picture book.

Imagine you live in a small Kenyan village, where the sun rises over tall trees filled with doves. You wake to the sound of a rooster’s crow, instead of an alarm clock. Your afternoon snack is a tasty bug plucked from the sky, instead of an apple. And rather than kicking a soccer ball across a field, you kick a homemade ball of rags down a dusty road.

But with so much going on around you, it’s just as easy for a Kenyan and American child to forget what your mama asked you to do!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689861949
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	01/01/2006
Series:	Anne Schwartz Books
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kelly Cunnane lived in Africa for many years but now resides in Beals, Maine. For You Are a Kenyan Child is her first book for children.

Ana Juan is the illustrator of Elena’s Serenade by Campbell Geeslin, which School Library Journal called “a fascinating adventure that explores issues of gender roles, self-confidence, and the workings of an artist’s heart” in a starred review. Her paintings have appeared on the cover of The New Yorker, on book and album jackets, on film festival posters, and in several European magazines. She is also the illustrator of Frida by Jonah Winter and the author and illustrator of The Night Eater. She lives in Madrid, Spain.

Editorial Reviews

A day in the life of a distractible lad, illustrated with almost magical brightness by the reigning Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award-winner. Cunnane invites readers to place themselves at the center of her warm tale of a boy who, sent out to mind his Grandfather's cows, instead turns aside to enjoy a hot chepati from the proprietor of the local tea shop, hares off after a passing monkey, visits the kindly village chief, savors a drink from Grandmother and a sweet insect offered by a neighbor, then kicks a rag ball with a friend until the sun begins to sink. Guiltily recollecting his duty, the boy hurries toward the fields-only to meet his dignified Grandfather quietly bringing the cows in for the night. Smiling brown figures dressed in a mix of modern and traditional clothing fill the foregrounds in Juan's luminous rural scenes, echoing the poetic text's happy tone. Drawing on personal experiences, Cunnane opens with an acknowledgement of Kenya's distinctive tapestry of languages and customs, but then goes on to show qualities in the character, community and play of one particular child of that land that mirror those of children everywhere. A rare excursion, glowing with love and laughter. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews