Faraway Drums - Hardcover

Grade 1-4AAlone in their apartment while their mother is at work, Jamila and her little sister, Zakiya, are frightened by the strange nighttime sounds of their new neighborhood. To give herself courage, Jamila remembers the stories about Africa that her great-grandmother told her, imagining she hears "raindrops sizzlin' on sun-scorched soil and a herd of wildebeests thunderin'." The voices in the street are hyenas fighting over scraps of food, she tells Zakiya, and the car horn blaring is an elephant at the watering hole. Even their neighbor who stops by to check on them plays a part in the gameAshe is the head woman wearing a "kente cloth robe." This poetically told story pays tribute to the imaginative powers of children and will comfort young readers who are left in charge of their siblings. The softly colored paintings, done in oil wash on board, show the warmth and caring between the two sisters. Images of Africa are subtlety woven into the realistic backdrop of the girls' apartment. The text is too long for storytime, but would work well as a reassuring bedtime story. Parents in search of picture books about moving to a new home will find this title useful, along with Angela Johnson's The Leaving Morning (Orchard, 1992).ADawn Amsberry, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A slice of urban life that will be all too familiar to many children living in run-down ghetto neighborhoods is revealed with sensitivity and insight in both text and pictures. Zakiya and Jamila, perhaps 6 and 10, are left on their own each day when they return from school. Their single mother must go to work, and the pair must "stay locked in" to assure their safety. A neighbor occasionally looks in on the children, but the girls must deal with strange street noises; loud, angry voices in the hall; even screams "travelin' right through the walls." Though the older sister is as frightened as her sibling, she comforts her with stories of Africa that their great-gramma has told them: about wildebeests thunderin', hyenas bickerin' over scraps, and monkeys "fightin' over a juicy cocoa pod." Neither is quite fooled, but the distraction is somehow comforting. What might be too unsubstantial a text by itself is rendered credible and movingly real, thanks to Floyd Cooper's accomplished and convincing oil-wash paintings. (Selma G. Lanes, Parents' Choice, 1998) -- From Parents' Choice®