An enduring manner of passing messages across Africa is the use of parables and storytelling to teach children (even adults) lessons on life, morality, and responsibility. Some of these stories even employ recurring animal characters to enliven the storytelling experience. Ghana has ‘Ananse the spider’, and the Yorubas of Nigeria have ‘Ijapa the tortoise’. In the book Tofunmi ‘borrows a leaf’ from this cultural tree.
The book kills two birds with one stone, as it tells the story of David the school boy, and his memorable experiences on his school’s prize-giving day. On one hand, it teaches children lessons on hard work, dedication, and the rewards of labour in their mundane life. On the other hand, the author uses the story to teach Christian children spiritual lessons, about the ‘prize-giving day’ of heaven. This is the big day of rewards for Christians (young or old), who have lived a disciplined Christian life, and dutifully followed the teaching of The Holy Bible.
The author’s decision to tell the story with human characters, instead of employing anthropomorphised animals, was an effective choice for the lessons taught in the book. Sometimes, when moralising to children, ditching fantasies for relatability works better, because young people connect readily with stories they can easily see themselves in. Most school children can relate to the events and experiences of a school’s prize-giving day.
Usually, stories that are written to teach life lessons to children end with a sentence, or a paragraph summarising its moral lessons. In the book, the author tells the story, but also uses a whole chapter of the book to extensively unpack the lessons (with assignments), like a proper school teacher. Readers may also learn some new words, as the book includes a glossary of words that may be unfamiliar to a young reader.
For parents, David’s story is one your kids would be able to relate to, and The Unique-Prize Giving Day should encourage them to become more dedicated to their studies. The book has a strong faith premise, which may make it more appealing to families already of the Christian faith, or families curious to learn more about Christianity. As it’s targeted towards children, it could have benefitted from the use of illustrations. Nonetheless, the 52-page book is still an easy, fun, and engaging read without pictures.
The book was first published in 2019, by Jochebed Publishing House. It has since been republished to make it available on digital platforms.
