Big Boy - Hardcover

Mollel, Tololwa Marti

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395674034 ISBN 13: 9780395674031

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1994

Synopsis

Dreaming of being allowed to go out bird hunting like his older brother Mbachu, Little Oli, a boy in an African village, is amazed when his wish to be as big as the mountains and as strong as the wind comes true.

About this title

About the Author:

E.B. Lewis's watercolor paintings appear in BIG BOY and many other picture books. The recipient of a Coretta Scott King Honor for Illustration, he lives in Folsom, New Jersey.

From Booklist:

Ages 3-8. Set in contemporary Tanzania, East Africa, this is a universal story about the small child who gets to be a giant and to boss everyone around. Oli is stuck at home. He's tired of being the little one, tucked in bed with a story. He wants to be as big as his brother; no, he wants to be bigger than everyone. He sneaks out into the woods, and a magical Tunuka-zawadi bird grants him his wish. He sneezes, and elephants stampede. He jumps into the sea and causes a tidal wave. Of course, he wakes up in the woods in his mama's arms, and his loving family takes him home to bed. Less glossy than the art in Mollel's Orphan Boy (1991), the stunning pictures here have a strong sense of contemporary East Africa. Lewis' sunlit double-page-spread watercolors show a village boy in shorts, shirt, and sneakers. The baskets, calabashes, and brilliantly colored woven cloths in his home are part of family daily life. Outside is the bush with an astonishing giant baobab tree. Mollel includes a brief glossary of Kaswahili words and a note about how he's adapted the tale from various African stories of the prodigious child, both strong and vulnerable. Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0395674034
• ISBN 13: 9780395674031
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 27
• Illustrator: Lewis Earl B.