Year Published: 2012
Written by: Julie Stieggmeyer
Illustrated by: E.B. Lewis
Description
Moyo and Japera travel down the red dusty road to the next village. There, they will gather under the baobab tree, the Tree of Life. Moyo knows that some days the market wagon stops under the baobab tree. Villagers buy brightly colored cloth and heavy pots and pans. But who will gather today under the baobab tree? Come to a special place—a wondrous gathering place known as the baobab tree, the Tree of Life. Moyo and Japera know that almost anything can happen here. But today? Today the most important and truest stories of all will be told. People will come to hear, to pray, and to sing. And as the children journey to the tree they have only one question: Who will gather under the boabab tree? …Will you?
Publisher’s Weekly
From the opening full-bleed, full-spread watercolor illustration of a young boy greeting the dawn in front of his grass-roofed hut with arms stretched wide toward heaven, to the final spread of a community gathered to praise God under a baobab tree’s encompassing branches, a spirit of quiet joy and wonder reverberates through this tale. As brother and sister Moyo and Japera walk dusty roads to the next village, they pass through their diverse community: weaverbirds in acacia trees, gazelle at a watering hole, a termite mound ‘rising from the tall grass like a finger pointing to heaven,’ rendered by Lewis (Bat Boy and His Violin) as a vivid red natural sculpture decorating a brown, arid plain. Amid the children’s observations and musings, Stiegemeyer (Seven Little Bunnies) interweaves the refrain ‘But who will gather today under the baobab tree?’ A preface page introduces the baobab tree, describing its practical and spiritual value to the African savanna’s human and animal communities. Understated lyricism combines with uncluttered, foreground-focused depictions of creation in this prose hymn of thanksgiving, prayer, and praise.
Kirkus Review
‘A subtle, captivating glimpse of another way of life, with a regrettably generalized author’s note about the significance of the baobab tree in African culture.’
Publishers Weekly Review
‘Amid the children’s observations and musings, Stiegemeyer (Seven Little Bunnies) interweaves the refrain ‘But who will gather today under the baobab tree?’ A preface page introduces the baobab tree, describing its practical and spiritual value to the African savanna’s human and animal communities. Understated lyricism combines with uncluttered, foreground-focused depictions of creation in this prose hymn of thanksgiving, prayer, and praise.’
