Title: African Folktales for Children
Author: Uncle Blen Blen
Pages: 110
Publisher: Lion Press Limited 2009
ISBN: 9780956242228

African Folktales for Children by Uncle Blen Blen is a collection of 10 short folktales. Uncle Blen Blen is the pseudonym for Zimbabwean Children’s writer Dr Jonathan Masere. The 110 page book is 8” by 5” in diameter with illustrations by Jeffrey Milanzi. The notable feature in this book is the illustrations as they appropriately represent the tales being told. From the blurb on the back cover it is difficult to tell whether the book is targeted directly at children or targeted at the parents who will share the stories with their children. Either way both audiences would find some enjoyment in the stories.

  My preference would have been to have the book much larger in size as well as using a larger font. Whilst parents are reading the stories the children would want to have a look at the pictures. Having a larger book would make this easier. Larger pages would mean more space for larger illustrations. However, aside from this the content of the stories is interesting and in some cases humorous. Stories range from ‘A Tale of Two Mice’, ‘Dudu’s Wonderful Dream’ and ‘The Taming of the Goats’. The Story called ‘Why Fowl Live with People’ is a humorous story about the friendship of four birds that goes bad after a crooked business deal. Huku (who is the fowl) persuades his four friends (Gwari, Gondo and Hanga) to enter a groundnut selling business based in the Rimuka Forest. Huku discovers this miracle seed, the ground nut, in a dream revealed to him by his ancestors. His three trusted friends join him in the business and profits begin to soar. However, Huku becomes greedy and he persuades his friends to enter into another agreement. Unfortunately this agreement makes Huku rich but his friends become poorer and poorer over the years. Eventually the friends come to their senses and realise how cruel Huku has been to them. In anger they drive greedy Huku out of the Rimuka forest. Greedy Huku finds refuge with people, far away from the forest, hence the title of the story ‘Why Fowl live with people!’ However, the story leaves one with a dislike for fowl and their greedy ancestors!

  Uncle Blen Blen definitely has some good story ideas that can definitely be enjoyed by both children and adults. The book is available as a print on demand (POD) title at Amazon.com and most internet bookstores.