Trouble by Jane Kurtz. Illustrated by Durga Bernhard (1997) Reading Level: Ages 4-8. 40 pages. Gulliver Books. ISBN: 0152002197.
Visit the artist's website at www.durgabernhard.com.
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Trouble
by Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by Durga Bernhard
Notes about Trouble
and about the illustrations
| The artist for Trouble, Durga Bernhard, has slipped in all kinds of visual jokes and
bits of information (for example, a map at the front so you can follow
Tekeleh's travels). On the cover of the book, do you see two spots of
trouble? No, one of them isn't the goat sniffing the lizard.
Those wishing to learn about Omweso, the Royal Mancala game of Uganda,
may wish to visit a site hosted by the International Omweso Society in
London. The Omweso website
states that "Omweso is an ancient "Mancala" count and capture game
played in Uganda. The rules are deceptively simple, but it is said that
it is the most challenging board game in Africa." The site provides
rules, strategies, and tactics for playing. |
Men in Malawi play a variation of the gebeta game.
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Folktales where something gets traded for something else are relatively
common. Two you might wish to locate include This For That by Verna Aardema (Dial) and The Jade Horse, The Cricket, and the Peach Stone
by Ann Tompert (Boyds Mills). Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between those two stories and Trouble? Actually, the ending of the Eritrean folktale is somewhat unusual for this type of story. Can you explain why?
Other activities to extend the reading experience with Trouble
How have maps changed since Eritrea became an
independent country? Compare a map made in the mid-
1980s (or before) with a map made in the 1990s.
In visits to schools, Jane shows how many things from her books come
out of her real life. For example, she sometimes shows students a
picture of herself as a girl with a dik-dik that she and her sisters
were able to keep as a pet for a little while. "The memory of that shy and delicate animal stayed with me," she says, "and I loved being able to put it in one of my books."
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Mapping a Changing World by Yvette La Pierre
(Thomasson-Grant & Lickle) is a fascinating guide to
how maps have changed over time. The book "introduces
young readers to a host of wonderful--and sometimes whimsical--attempts to capture our world on a flat surface." Page 39 features an ancient map of Africa, with the legendary figure of Prester John on his
throne in the region that is now Ethiopia.
In one of the schools where Jane was a speaker, the
students had fun designing their own lizards to go along with her book, Trouble. There is an Ethiopian saying that goes something like this: "The lizard eats flies on the wall of the house of the rich man and poor
man alike." Can you tell what the proverb is trying to express? Collect wise sayings from as many different countries as you can find.
-- Africa (Eyewitness Books) by Yvonne Ayo (Dorling
Kindersley) has a good photograph of a mancala game, as well as other
interesting photographs of things from Africa. Learn more about
versions of the gebeta (and mancala game) played throughout Africa by
visiting the mancala page.
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