Straw Sense

An old man who makes dolls breaks through the loneliness of a young boy who doesn't speak.

Grade 2-4-A heartwarming story about a lonely child who makes a new friend. Goolam-Habib, five, "'lost his voice the night the forest burned down'" and no longer communicates verbally. One day, seeking shelter from the rain, he goes inside a shed where an old man is making a scarecrow for his strawberry field. Eventually, Goolam-Habib assists Saul in making a whole family of "strawberry people." Their friendship is cemented when the boy breaks through his silence and tells the man his name. The text moves along quite nicely. References to a mimosa tree, weaverbirds' nests, and a vlei will prompt curiosity about the story's setting. Dooling's realistic, full-color oil paintings, done in soft earth tones, vividly accent the text. They are strong, positive representations of life in rural southern Africa. An evocative multicutural offering that also deals with the sensitive subject of trauma and elective mutism.
Jos N. Holman, University Heights Public Library, Mansfield, OH
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Young Goolam-Habib has not spoken since the night the forest burned, but at last an old man draws him out by inviting him to help make scarecrows for the strawberry fields. Working together with straw, scraps, and old clothes, the two build an amusing family: a man astride an ostrich, a wife, and their daughter, riding a bicycle. Dooling's expressive, realistic people are depicted against more freely rendered settings that are muted and frequently shadowy. The straw figures, too, are blurred, but their gangly awkwardness adds a happier note to this rather somber tale of intergenerational friendship. Rupert emphasizes the story's universality by leaving many details to conjecture--how Goolam- Habib came to be orphaned; even the setting, which might be South Africa. (Picture book. 7-9) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 5-8. Goolam-Habib is an unhappy child who expresses his loneliness by not speaking. One day, when his "aunt" sends him to market to buy tomatoes and potatoes, he meets an old man who is making a straw-filled doll to guard his strawberry field. The boy stops to help, and soon the two become good friends. Over the next few days, they create an entire family of scarecrows, and finally Goolam-Habib feels secure enough to speak. Set in rural South Africa, Rupert's simple story is rich with local color. Dooling's textured paintings, rendered in muted earth tones, capture many of the text's details and portray the culture with dignity and respect. Some children may wonder about Goolam-Habib's family: Rupert only explains that the child lost his voice (and presumably was taken in by Aunt Shamiema) the night the forest burned down. A touching and introspective story that points out the universal need for love and friendship, this will be welcomed by guidance counselors looking for stories of belonging and self-worth and by classes studying South Africa. Kay Weisman