{"id":1521,"date":"2015-05-28T10:27:08","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T09:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mirrorswindowsdoors.org\/wp\/?p=1521"},"modified":"2015-05-28T10:27:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T09:27:08","slug":"review-dear-baobab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mirrorswindowsdoors.org\/wp\/review-dear-baobab\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Dear Baobab by Cheryl Foggo and Qin Leng"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dear<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Baobab
\n<\/em><\/strong>written by Cheryl Foggo<\/a>, illustrated by Qin Leng<\/a>
\n(Second Story Press, 2011)<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following the death of his parents, seven-year-old Maiko has had to leave all that was familiar, encapsulated in his memory of the ancient baobab tree in his village in an unspecified African country, to come and live with his aunt and uncle in their red brick house in a Western city. Maiko forms a special bond with a small fir tree growing outside the house.\u00a0 He listens to its whisperings, and confides his feelings and anxieties to it: his homesickness; and how Leonard, a boy at school, laughs at his ears.\u00a0 When his aunt and uncle decide that the tree needs to be cut down, Maiko tries to protect it by hiding the tools.\u00a0 Only when the inevitable day arrives, do his aunt and uncle realise the tree\u2019s importance to Maiko, and an alternative solution is found.<\/p>\n

The story is straightforward enough to appeal to young readers.\u00a0 They will appreciate the way his love of his two special trees helps him to emerge with confidence from the unsettling changes in his life.\u00a0 In addition, there is a subtle depth to the narrative that will make it appealing to older readers.\u00a0 When Maiko hides the tools, for example, his aunt berates his uncle for leaving them out to be stolen.\u00a0 The situation is not then tidily resolved \u2013 Maiko does not confess \u2013 and readers therefore find themselves asking questions that have no single straightforward answer.\u00a0 The same is true of Leonard.\u00a0 Something has certainly happened behind the scenes between Maiko\u2019s telling his uncle about how he is being teased at school and our next encounter with Leonard.\u00a0 It is enough to hear explicitly that while Maiko is playing with his friend Li, ‘They saw Leonard.\u00a0 He did not laugh at Maiko\u2019s ears.’\u00a0 Older readers will probably pick up on this and ponder it.\u00a0 The illustrations emphasise these key moments too.\u00a0 They convey Maiko\u2019s emotions throughout the story: his sadness, worry and guilt, but also his happiness playing in the snow, for example, or his exuberant play with Li when dressed up as a baobab for his first Halloween.<\/p>\n

Dear Baobab<\/em>\u00a0is a gentle story about settling into a new home and a new culture.\u00a0 It opens up many questions for young readers, who will be touched by its universally relevant themes of bullying and belonging.<\/p>\n

Marjorie Coughlan
\n<\/em>September 2012<\/p>\n

More…<\/h2>\n

Read about this and other ‘Picture Books Featuring Cross-Racial Friendships<\/a>‘<\/p>\n

This review first appeared\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0on the PaperTigers.org website in September 2012.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Dear<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Baobab
<\/em><\/strong>written by Cheryl Foggo<\/a>, illustrated by Qin Leng<\/a>
(Second Story Press, 2011)<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following the death of his \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading …<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3,603,279],"tags":[635,142,634,156,141,61,143,874],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Dear Baobab by Cheryl Foggo and Qin Leng ~<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mirrorswindowsdoors.org\/wp\/review-dear-baobab\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Dear Baobab by Cheryl Foggo and Qin Leng ~\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Dear Baobab written by Cheryl Foggo, illustrated by Qin Leng (Second Story Press, 2011)   Following the death of his \u2026 Continue reading ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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