Trouble

I can't wait to share this book with my student and his mother from Eritrea. Most of the time I have to find books on Ethiopia which doesn't sit well with mom even though she understands the difficulty. I also recently purchased a mancala board so we can play that game after we read the book. Mancala has been promoted to teach math and cooperative learning social skills.

Jane Kurtz has once again taken the raw material of the oral tradition and translated it to print, without losing the "feel" of a story told face to face. Tekleh, armed with a plaything that was designed to keep him out of trouble, finds himself trading it and each new item he receives, to stay out of trouble. As is traditional in such a circular tale, he ends where he began. For those who wish to venture into the world of telling a story without the book, this is one story that will help you avoid "trouble" as you retell the tale. For those who appreciate the appeal of an illustrated tale, the pictures are just enough to delight, but will allow the reader/listener their imagination at the same time.

TROUBLE is a circular story in the best tradition of folkloric literature. Young Tekleh is always in the company of trouble as he tends his goats in the Eritrean countryside. He loses the gebata board, which his father has made for him to keep him away from trouble, to a group of traders. Yet another board is cleverly regained, in a circular fashion, by the end of the book. Kurtz's rich imagery enlivens the story as do Bernhard's sprightly folk art illustrations. With an ever changing palette, she tells her own small jokes in the pictures. A wonderful, child-centered story kids will ask for again and again