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ONLY ONE COWRY
A DAHOMEAN TALE
illustrated by David
Soman
Orchard, 2000
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*Junior
Library Guild
Selection
*Bank
Street's Best
Children's Books, 2001
*Boxed
review, Booklist
*Children's Literature
Choice List, 2001
*Notable Social Studies
Trade Book, 2001
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| From
the
book jacket: |
Dada Segbo, the first king of Dahomey, wants a bride. He can afford the
finest gifts to bestow upon her family, but he prefers not to part with
any of his wealth. So he offers a single cowry shell. How could anyone
find a bride for such a pittance?
"I will find the king a wife for only one
cowry," promises a smart young fellow named Yo. And, trade by trade, he
does. But Yo isn't the only clever bargainer in the kingdom.
Freely based on African folkore and strikingly
illustrated with multi-textured collage art, this witty tale features
an appealing pair of perfectly matched deal makers.
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A little
about the book:
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My father, who studied and collected African art, suggested I retell an
African cumulative tale for children. My experience as a
children's librarian and storyteller taught me there is nothing
more fun than joining in to help tell the story. So I found an
African tale that had not yet become a picture book, perhaps because
the trickster hero was just too mean. I transformed him into a nicer
fellow, though he is still very much a trickster, still clever and
wily. But I didn't stray far from the character Yo was to become. As it
happened,
according to the original Dahomean storyteller, the king,
completely happy with the lovely and clever wife Yo found for him,
forbid anyone to complain about Yo's trickery. And that is why, says
the storyteller, Yo--the nasty
trickster--became a more likable trickster in future funny tales.
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From the reviews:
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“Soman’s
handsome collage art is as strong and distinctive as Gershator’s text,
deftly capturing the humor of the story in postures and facial
expressions. The effective combination of rhythm, rhyme, and wordplay
in the tale’s refrain (‘Well, well, I’m doing well, thanks to Dada
Segbo’s shell’), preceded each time by the cumulative lilst of items
traded, is just one example of Gershator’s thoughtful attention to the
story’s oral roots.” Horn Book
“...good-humored cumulative picture book.... [Soman] brilliantly
captures the story’s light tone with scenes of smiling figures posed
gracefully against simplified, evocative backgrounds. Young readers and
listeners will laugh along with Yo and his beautiful coconspiritator as
the two slyly prize a lavish bride price from the smug sovereign.” Booklist, boxed review
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