Trouble - Hardcover

Kurtz, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152002197 ISBN 13: 9780152002190

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997

Synopsis

Loving adventure despite the trouble he gets into, curious-minded Tekleh is given a gebeta board by his father that will keep him occupied, and while tending his goats, the boy finds good fortune through his board. Jr Lib Guild.

About this title

About the Author

JANE KURTZ lives in Portland, Oregon. She has written more than thirty fiction and nonfiction books for children, including Lanie and Lanie's Real Adventure from the American Girl Today series, Anna Was Here, and River Friendly, River Wild, a story in verse for which she received a Golden Kite award. Visit her website at  www.janekurtz.com.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2. A traditionally patterned, circular story from Eritrea that begins provocatively: "Trouble always found Tekleh." Tekleh's job is to tend the family goats that often wander off when under his care. The boy's father carves his undependable son a wooden board game, hoping it will entertain Tekleh and keep him out of trouble. Setting out with his goats and his game board the next morning, the lad fails to go straight to the grazing place. Instead, he and the animals wander off, encountering many people along the way. First, he meets a group of traders who are looking for firewood and take his wooden game board. When he protests, he is given a knife in exchange. In subsequent encounters, he trades one thing after another until finally, predictably, he exchanges a papaya for another game board bringing the story full circle. Bernhard's gouache illustrations depict authentic cultural details such as round, grass-roofed houses; traditional shawls; and colorfully bordered, white cotton clothes. The pictures contain subtle details of humor well suited to the tale. Endpapers that map the boy's journey can be used to recapitulate the tale with listeners. In an endnote, the author cites Harold Courlander's version of the story included in his book Fire on the Mountain (Holt, 1995). Kurtz's retelling, which differs in detail but not in pattern and intent, depicts Tekleh as mischief maker, teasing more humor out of the tale than the more straightforward Courlander version. Enjoyable.?Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kurtz (Miro in the Kingdom of the Sun, 1996, etc.), the lively Eritrean story of a young boy with a magnetic attraction to trouble. On Tekleh's watch, goats end up in the garden, and dust somehow settles on the roasting coffee beans. His father gives him a gebeta board, hoping that the game will keep his curious boy out of mischief. Board in hand, Tekleh takes the family goats to graze in the hills, but soon loses his father's gift to some traders, who give him a fine knife; another man offers Tekleh his masinko--a musical instrument--for the knife, and so Tekleh's trading and his adventures continue; eventually he returns home with another game board, fulfilling his father's prophecy: ``A gebeta board never fails to keep a young boy out of trouble.'' An author's note discusses the story's origins; Bernhard's illustrations provide an enchanting window into the culture and people of Eritrea. (map, glossary) (Picture book/folklore. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 4^-7. Tekleh is a young Eritrean goatherd whose curiosity and love of adventure always draw him to trouble--no matter how much he means to avoid it. His father crafts a board game called a gebeta, with the hope that it will keep his son on the straight and narrow path. The next day just the opposite occurs as Tekleh encounters several groups of people and trades his game, in turn, for a knife, a musical instrument, a drum, a bag of corn and a papaya, and, finally, another gebeta board. He returns home to his unsuspecting father, who is convinced that the game has kept his son away from harm. Bernhard's gouache illustrations make prominent use of earth tones and include many background details. Although this will be useful for classes studying Africa, Tekleh also has a universal appeal that should be popular with young listeners everywhere. Appended with source notes and a glossary of foreign terms. Kay Weisman

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152002197
• ISBN 13: 9780152002190
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Bernhard Durga
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40