Here's Chad, in Africa:
I like this image. It's neat to see it on the globe.
Here's the summary:
"In the evening, there are traditional games. Excitement fills the air; a tumult is unleashed. The drums reverberate, roar, summon to the dance. Their staccato boom echoes through the savannah and over the rolling, sandy hills. The young perform war dances, competing in strength, agility and skill. Simulating combat, they brandish their assegais, crouch, rise up and face off in rapid succession. They stamp the ground furiously with their feet: a cloud of dust envelops them in a tremendous halo of glory. All this time, the tom-toms are vibrating, their frenzy marvelously matching the dancers movements. Rhythm of life, captivating, lyrical, spellbinding magic! With fertile, protean imagination, griot and bard recite the prowess and deeds of their distant ancestors or sing of the beauty and charms of their betrothed."
Romantized scenes from Seid's boyhood, like the festival depicted here, as well as stories from the golden age of empires and other timeless tales in this collection evoke positive images of Chad and Africa more generally. African readers, young and old, regardless of locality, will hear echoes of the folktales, fables, and legends narrated by their grandmothers of an evening under the stars or by the fireside. In the literature classroom, at secondary and tertiary level, Seid's imagery should resonate and appeal to the sensibilities of African learners from similar socio-cultural and historical environments. This same imagery can, in turn, be used to introduce non-African learners to Africa. On a continent grappling still to forge new beginnings out of hope and deep despair, cruelty and great humanity, reminders of the past that evoke positive affect and historical figures and events that inspire a sense of pride about being African can enhance endeavor.
Picking this book up I knew it wasn't going to be my favorite. I've mentioned (probably more than once) that I'd rather read something that follows and develops characters. Even Daba's Travels, though it was essentially a series of short stories, followed the same boy and his life. I'm not sure if I wasn't able to find anything else or if I was just too lazy to look, but this is what I ended up with.
Anyway, ta-da! I was able to get another book down before vacay. It was kind of nice that each little story was only about 4 or 5 pages long, so I could do things in between stories. And they were cute; stories of how things came to be or why things are the way they are in Chad. But really, that's about all I have to say about it. Only a couple of the stories stood out--one with a girl who was super awful to a boy and then they get married and live happily ever after anyway. Which is dumb. The other one had two kids-a boy and a girl-and little pieces of their story kept reminding me of little pieces of other classic fairy tales. They were entertaining enough.
So there's Chad, and I'm about to head off for some sunshiiine! I'm bringing SO. many. clothes. But there's actually a fair chance I'll wear most of them. And...yeah. I'm ready for sun.
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