Young readers remembered

Beaven Tapureta Bookshelf
Even though we are expecting a range of new books to be launched at this year’s Book Fair, it is worthwhile to note that local publishers have also remembered the children, let alone given a platform to new writers of children’s fiction and non-fiction books. Of those books expected, two new Shona books targeting primary level are set to stimulate children who will converge to acquaint with the local and international book world at the Book Fair coming up end of July.

Mutare-based writer Simbarashe Clever Kavenga’s second children’s book “Kare Kare Zvako” (Long Long Time Ago) will be published soon by Mambo Press while Tinashe Muchuri’s non-fiction children’s book “Zvipfuyo Nevana Vazvo” (Animals and their Young Ones) came out last week from Bhabhu Books.

Bernadette Vonai Paradza, Mambo Press editor, has confirmed that “Kare Kare Zvako”publication date is mid-July 2014, meaning the book will definitely be available during Book Fair. The 32-page book falls under the publisher’s Dandaro Readers series.

“The children will no doubt be specially intrigued by seeing human beings and animals in dialogue,” said Paradza.
Although there is still a yawning gap in children’s literature particularly in vernacular languages, the two booklets will do much in providing children’s reading matter suitable for the school and home.

That both writers are coming out with children’s books in local language is interesting at this moment when Zimbabweans wish to reclaim their identity under siege from alien cultures infiltrating via the technological boom.

Used positively, technology works wonders for children but still there are those disadvantaged in rural areas where, as for now, the traditional book holds sway. Catching them young or investing in children, with or without multi-media aid counters the fear of having a country’s cultural values from diminishing.

Looking at Muchuri’s booklet, one can see that the author’s concern is with bringing Shona traditional knowledge back into the home.
Cases are many of parents who have trouble with or blatantly fail simple Shona exercises which their children bring home to be assisted.

Often the parents, pressed for time because of various occupations, have entrusted their children to teachers who, being at times parents as well, have further disengaged with the children in terms of imparting the wealth of our mother languages. “Zvipfuyo Nevana Vazvo” indeed acts as an interactive book that suits the home where domestic animals featured in the booklet are an everyday sight.

Children will also find it easy to identify the animals in the book through the animated illustrations done by Kudakwashe Chuma. There are a few questions at the end of each section to assess the child’s understanding of the given domestic animal’s characteristics.

“Kare Kare Zvako”, set in a period in the unknown past and written in an entertaining and suspenseful language, brings back memories of the traditional fireside children’s stories with supernatural characters which elderly people who were master storytellers, used to tell long back. That storytelling tradition has since been eroded by the changing modern times, mainly the entertainment technology the global village daily unveils to children and adults alike.

The story is about two poor friends Kamuti and Mashizha who, every night, have the same puzzling dream about a far, rich country which they extremely desire to inherit and put an end to their poverty.

One day, a strange bird named Tseru appears to them and tells them that it actually can lead them and their families to their dreamland. However, it sets conditions that must be adhered to in the new country.

One of the conditions is that none of the men should carry arms of war such as spears, bows and arrows, a condition which Kamuti is not happy with.

Somewhere along the journey, they meet Ruvangu, a stunning but deceptive bird which tries to persuade the two friends into believing that Tseru, a poor-looking bird, is misleading them and they need to follow Ruvangu whose country is flamboyant and rich in everything.

Kamuti, lured by Ruvangu’s apparent sparkling image and promises of wealth, drops his first loyalty and decides to go separate ways with his long-time friend Mashizha.

On arrival in the new country promised by Tseru, Mashizha is at first disappointed that it is not what he had dreamt of. Drought and hunger are all over but Tseru does some miracles and in a few days the whole land is blessed with heavy forests, animals, mountains and ever flowing rivers.

Mashizha is endowed with the power to name his land and reign over it under the guidance of Tseru. As for Kamuti, his journey with Ruvangu leads to a beautiful country but later things turn bitter. Greed, murder, poverty and hunger soon settle in after Kamuti and his wife argue over the wife’s choice of a place to build another new house. In the fight, Kamuti unintentionally kills his son who has come in to make peace between the two.

Later Kamuti sets his wife’s house on fire and she is burnt to death. The fire spreads wildly and destroys the forests and birds and what once was a rich country becomes a desert. Ruvangu, after a long period of absence, appears and makes fun of Kamuti’s brainlessness and subsequent poverty.

In retaliation, Kamuti kills Ruvangu and roasts the bird for supper.
Lonely and hungry, he begins to wander until he comes to a country that had everything, wild fruits and beauty. Having gormandised the fruits and yet not able to finish them, he sleeps under a tree. It is at this moment that Tseru and Mashizha appear.

Tseru embodies forgiveness because after recognizing Kamuti, the bird orders Mashizha to carry him home and prepare food for him.
Later, Kamuti, recovering from the long tiresome journey and hunger, wakes up from a deep slumber and starts to talk with Mashizha. At the mention of Tseru in their conversation, Kamuti recalls the past and suddenly identifies his friend and an emotional reunion follows.

The moral of the story is that prosperity achieved through evil means does not last while earnest prosperity achieved through hard work lasts longer.

The children will also learn many things from the four main characters Tseru and Ruvangu the birds, Kamuti and Mashizha the friends.
The authors Muchuri and Kavenga share a background at the then Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe which helped nurture them one way or the other into who they are today. They are both journalists with Muchuri writing for Parade magazine and Kavenga running a weekly column “Nhasi Tiri Tose” in the Pungwe News, a Mutare-based community newspaper. The column was nominated for NAMA in 2010 and Muchuri, who is also an actor and poetry performer, won the Arts and Entertainment Journalist of the Year award at the National Journalism and Media Awards last year. Their poems have also appeared in various local and international anthologies.
“Zvipfuyo Nevana Vazvo” is available from the author and from the publisher.