Rene Deetlefs. The Song of Six Birds. Illustrator, Lyn Gilbert. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 1999. 32 pp. Ages 4-8. $12.79 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-525-46314-6.
Reviewed by Barbara B. Brown (African Studies Center, Boston University)
Published on H-AfrTeach (July, 2001)
The Song of Six Birds
The Song of Six Birds
The Song of Six Birds is the story of a young girl named Lindiwe who loves music and wakes one morning to find her mother has given her a simple flute. Not able to play, she walks through her village capturing the songs of six birds for her flute. At the end of the day, people gather around to hear the flute play and to feast and dance together.
The book is suited for young children. The text is minimal--a sentence or two per page--and the illustrations are bold, with simple colors of green grass, red dress, blue sky. The six birds are charmingly presented and illustrated. The people are drawn wearing typical South African clothes but with no attempt at individuality. The overall sense of village life--of people and goats and chickens, river and trees--is what matters.
The Song of Six Birds is a generic story of happy village life. Only in reading the cover notes on the auther and illustrator can an American reader learn that it is South Africa depicted here. The story offers a sweet fantasy of rural life with its mimimal story line and drawings. Readers seeking a story that captures a more detailed depiction of South African village life today will need to look further into stories with more nuanced illustrations or a richer story arc. Some such picture books on South Africa available in the United States are Ntombi's Song, Over the Green Hills, and At the Crossroads.
Copyright 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu.
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Citation:
Barbara B. Brown. Review of Deetlefs, Rene, The Song of Six Birds.
H-AfrTeach, H-Net Reviews.
July, 2001.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5289
Copyright © 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.org.