レビュー

• 絵も文章もすごく魅力的な大人にも楽しめる芸術性の高い一冊。

  私が中学のとき、あらゆる人の知恵を借りて、辞書首っ引きで読んだ、初めての絵本。中学から英語を習った田舎の中学生としては、ものすごくチャレンジな一冊だったには違いなかったのだが、絵のすばらしさと、調べる度に明らかになる躍動する文章の光景に惹かれ、随分長いこと周囲を巻き添えにしながら高校受験そっちのけで読んだ日々が忘れられない。アフリカの様々な民俗の細かな生活様式や習慣について、それぞれアルファベット順にAからZまで、すごく魅力的な絵とともに紹介した、芸術性においても優れた一冊。絵はアートスクール時代に出会って制作をともにしてきたご夫妻によるもの、マスグローブによる文章もとてもいい。 日本語版は「絵本アフリカの人びと―26部族のくらし」というタイトルで偕成社から出ていて、そちらの方は随分経ってから存在を知り購入した。日本語で読んでもなんら原文の魅力を損なうことはないと思うので、そちらもお薦めです。

• Ashanti to Zulu was a childhood favorite for both of our now adult daughters. It was shared at school a number of times by both girls who were very early readers. Africa is an enormous and varied continent inhabited by hundreds of different peoples with customs and traditions as diverse as the land itself. The author does a great job of introducing the reader to twenty-six peoples depicting a custom that's important to each; some of the customs are unique and relate to only to a particular people, others are shared by many. All reflect traditional values or philosophies. The detailed illustrations are magnificent! Technology was already bringing new ways of life to the continent back when our girls first enjoyed this book, and of course technology continues to change the people. However, traditions that have been passed from generation to generation continue to have value and are still respected and practiced. There are a couple of traditions that may frighten some western children hearing/reading the stories for the first time. My advice to parents is to be sure to read through the book in it's entirety. You know your child best - you may have to "edit" one are two stories until they grow to understand the value of the customs you're sharing with them. I believe both adults and children will treasure what they learn from Ashanti to Zulu. I passed on the many wonderful children's books our family collected for our girls to a young family of early readers. Now I've started a new collection - this book was one of the first dozen or so I've purchased.

• Beautiful Illustrations - a little dated now but I bought it for research purposes and for the analysis of the illustrations - beautiful!

• Great read

• Not best quality printing is rather dark

• Excellent work. Well written with beautiful illustrations! It uses the alphabet to work the story through a series of African tribes. It starts with "A" for Ashanti civilization and works its way through multiple groups of African people until it reaches "Z" for Zulu. The pictures are thought-provoking and have led to many discussions regarding different types of dress and why people dress differently for weddings and everyday clothing. I wish someone would produce a film to accompany the book so we could see the people in action. It would also be wonderful if the author would remake the book for an older crowd. Same concept but with more information or at least links to more information about each group. Because, this book is really appropriate for the 5-8 aged group of children. Each page contains only about a paragraph of information.

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