True Friends: A Tale from Tanzania

Kindergarten-Grade 3 Rat and Elephant are the best of friends. Rat is the only animal who can make fire and is a hard worker who saves and plans for the difficult times that may lie ahead. Elephant takes advantage of his friend's generosity and tricks him into storing his food at his house and then refuses to return it. In the end, Elephant learns the meaning of true friendship. The richly colored illustrations are bold and graphically stylized. They add a real sense of place to the story, but are also distracting at times. The animals' positions, shadows, and gestures occasionally draw attention away from the story instead of adding humor. There are also a couple of disconnects. Although there is mention of a drought and the river has dried up, the grass and trees remain green and the last scene shows the animals playing in a large pool of water. The maneless male lion has a leg from a deer or antelope sticking out from his pocket (a snack for later perhaps), even when he smilingly interacts with the other animals. An additional purchase for collections with a large international folktale collection. Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA
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