The Twelve Days of Christmas
In my last post I talked about an Australia version of this famous poem. In this next post I am excited to have found a African version. If you can find this book first published in 2011 begin with the scrumptious end papers which show beautiful woven baskets in red, white and green from Ethiopia.
My true love gave to me:
- A stork in a baobab tree - Botswana
- Two thatched huts - Zimbabwe
- Three woven baskets - Ethiopia
- Four market traders - Tanzania
- Five bright khangas - Uganda
- Six women pounding - Mali
- Seven children playing - Niger
- Eight wooden carvings - Nigeria
- Nine grazing goats - Kenya
- Ten drummers drumming - Ghana
- Eleven dancers dancing - Morocco
- Twelve storytellers - South Africa
In addition to the lines from the poem this book also gives readers a brief paragraph on each page as an explanation for example the grazing goats:
"Flocks of goats are often seen in African villages. Goats are used for meat, milk and for their skins. Traditionally it was the job of a child to look after the family goats. At the end of the day, the herder makes sure every animal returns to the safety of the homestead."
"The Khanga is a traditional cloth worn by many women, which can be used in different ways: a skirt, a shawl, headdress or even a baby sling."
You can see some illustrations from this book here.
If you want to see more books featuring the twelve days of Christmas there are over forty in this Pinterest collection.
About the author: Catherine House lives in Oxford, UK and specialises in writing for African and Caribbean schools. She has lived and worked in Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea and Zimbabwe.
About the illustrator: Polly Alakija was born in the UK but now lives in Nigeria. Her most recent book is Counting Chickens.
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