Jambo, Watoto! - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2-In this warm family story, four young cheetahs are left in the tall grass while their mother goes off to hunt. Various animals come by and try to tempt them to abandon their hiding place, but they remember their mother's instructions and stay put. She returns with reports of praise for her children from the other creatures and tells the cubs that she's proud. The family then settles down to dinner and a good night's sleep. The nicely cadenced text has Swahili words sprinkled throughout. Some pages contain more text than others, but all feature colorful artwork in a unique style that the illustrator calls "altered monotype"-etchings with pencil and paints added that look like elaborate finger paintings. The swirls and textures work effectively to give the animals lots of charm and personality. Occasional black-and-white drawings of the cubs in the margins and cheetah-skin endpapers add to the visual appeal. This is a quiet story, but children will enjoy the animals and relate to the young cheetahs' childlike dilemma of weighing the promise of fun against parental directives. A cozy one-on-one reading experience.
Arwen Marshall, New York Public Library
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