Maw Books

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As many of my regular readers know, I read a lot of books about Africa, so naturally I was really interested in Amadi’s Snowman, a picture book by Katia Novet Saint-Lot, which takes place in Nigeria.

Amadi doesn’t understand why his mother insists on him learning how to read.  What does reading have to do with anything?  All he wants to do is to one day be a businessman.  Why does he need to learn how to read when all he wants to do is clean cars, and resell and trade small items?  He’s good at numbers.  That’s all that matters. But as he is wandering throughout the market, he notices one of his friends at the bookseller’s stall, looking at a book with a very strange picture.  A boy bundled up in strange clothes next to a big white thing with a carrot for a nose.  Everything was pure white.

“What’s that?” asked Amadi.

“A snowman,” said Chima, not even looking up.  “It’s made of snow.”

“Snow?” Amadi repeated.

Chima rolled his eyes.  “It’s frozen rainwater.  It makes snowflakes, and they fall from the sky and cover everything.  In some countries, they get snow during a season called winter.  It’s really cold.”  Chima turned his attention back to the book.

Amadi was confused and very intrigued.  He wanted to know what this snowman was. It made no sense.  As he walked home, he felt very saddened at the thought that there were many things in the world that he didn’t know about.  He realized that many of these things were found in books.  Later as he meets his mother, he finds out that his reading teacher (whom he always avoided) has brought him a gift.  A gift!  Amadi is very excited especially when he finds out that it’s the same book that he was looking at earlier.  The book later says:

Amadi went outside.  “You can tell Mrs. Chikodili I’ll learn how to read,” he declared.

And he ran down the dirt path, his heart filled with joy.

Amadi’s Snowman is a wonderful picture book for so many different reasons.  One, it opens up a young reader to a new culture.  The book is filled with many references to how Amadi lives, what food’s he eats, how people work, the marketplace, and how education is different.

Second, it opens up the idea that what is so commonplace to one is a completely foreign concept to another.  For Amadi, he’s never even heard of snow.  He can’t even begin to imagine frozen water falling from the sky.

Third, it shows a reluctant reader, that he’s not alone.  Amadi doesn’t want to read, but he discovers that there is much more offered to him in books that he previously thought.  Reading can be exciting.

Fourth, Amadi’s snowman would be an excellent resource in the classroom.  Katia Novet Saint-Lot grew up in Paris, and now lives in India but lived in Nigeria for a time which provided the backdrop for her story.  Visit her website for additional resources on bringing Nigeria into the classroom.

Amadi’s Snowman is illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo, who’s father grew up in Nigeria, artistically renders a style of illustration perfect for the culture and story represented.  It feel, appropriately so, very African.

Amadi’s Snowman book trailer:

Amadi’s Snowman is an excellent addition to the multi-cultural library, or any library, for that fact.  While preparing to review this book, I could not hunt it down in the house.  Last I saw it, it had been in my bedroom.  When asking my husband, he also said it’s in the bedroom.  After looking again, I said I couldn’t find it.  “No,” he says.  “It’s in the boy’s bedroom.  We read it last night before bed.”  And that’s right where it belongs.

And of course, I can’t help but share this photo of my little guy last winter with his own snowman:

Today is day 17 on Katia Novet Saint-Lot’s thirty day global virtual tour.  Visit Katia’s website for a full schedule of stops and recaps of each day on her blog.  Tomorrow she’s visiting Jill at the Well Read Child, one of my favorite Kidlit bloggers.

Now seriously, isn’t that the biggest snowman you’ve seen?  I’d like to see Amadi try to beat that!

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