Title: Love From Anna Hibiscus!
Author: Atinuke
Series: Anna Hibiscus
Major Themes: Hunger, Village Life, Africa
Synopsis: While she is on vacation in a village in Africa, Anna Hibiscus learns that some children are hungry or sick, with no way to get what they need.
A couple of years ago, I bought a lot of books from Sonlight Curriculum when they had their annual clearance sale. Most of those books have been sitting on the shelf, patiently waiting for us to pick them up. Yesterday, with most of the family away, I wanted a short book that I could read to the ones who stayed home, so that the others wouldn’t miss out on too much. After a quick glance over the shelves, I settled on Love From Anna Hibiscus! What a delightful book. Now, I want to find more books in the series to read to the children.
Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. She lives in a city, but right now she is on vacation with her grandparents and her big girl cousins in the village in which her grandparents were born. She goes with the other children to the bush every day to herd the goats, and she learns from them how to do things like use a slingshot. In return, she teaches the village children their ABCs and 123s. When they start asking her questions she can’t answer, though, she takes her big cousins along to help her out—and then discovers that she is much bigger than the village children who are the same age as her. Why?
Another day, Anna Hibiscus is at the market with her grandmother and the big girl cousins. When they are ready to go home, a boy snatches a banana from Anna’s basket, and she chases him to his home. She makes a startling and disturbing discovery about poverty and starvation—but can she do anything about it? And when the boy she chased is deathly sick, what will happen next?
Love From Anna Hibiscus! is a beautiful story about the difference that one little girl can make in the lives of many people, if she loves them. I was happy to be able to give my children a bit of a glimpse into the lives of people in Africa. We have a missionary friend who lives near the country in which Anna Hibiscus is set, and the way the people talked in this book reminded me of the way she said they talk in her country. This is a great story for expanding a child’s view of the world. It introduces the fact that some people do not have enough food or medical care, but in a very gentle way, with no trauma.
WARNING: There are a few pictures of a teenage girl wearing short-short shorts.
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 5 – 8, Family Friendly
Reading Independently—Ages 7 – 9
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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