Title:  Welcome Home Anna Hibiscus

Author: Atinuke 

Publisher: Walker Books

Number of pages: 111 

Type of Book: Fiction

Age: 6-8

Available here: http://www.konga.com/welcome-home-anna-hibiscus; Terrakulture, Victoria Island, Lagos; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Welcome-Hibiscus-Walker-Racing-Reads/dp/1406320811/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447671263&sr=1-1&keywords=welcome+home+anna

Price: N1,100; GBP 3.99

MY SUMMARY Anna Hibiscus is a little girl who lives with her mum, dad, aunties, uncles and cousins in a big white house in an African Country (that is not mentioned in the book). Follow Anna’s adventures as she carries an egg around until it hatches into a chicken and becomes her ‘son’, visits her friend Tiger Lily in the city and attempts to be a ‘mother’ to a spirited and naughty chicken who gets Anna and itself into a lot of scrapes throughout the book.

THUMBS UP AND DOWN

UP: Humour! I laughed a lot at the trouble that Snow White, the chicken, got Anna into. I also loved the image of communal life in the outskirts of the city painted by the writer. The pictures (almost one very page) make this a fun and easy read.

DOWN: It propagates the idea that Africa is a country. Words like ‘Africanly’, ‘traditional African courtesy’, ‘a good traditional African girl’, etc., almost made this book an unpleasant read for me.

RATING 3 stars

TRIVIA

1. Anna’s friend from Canada: Tiger Lily.
2. Who had the name of a fairy tale princess: Anna’s chicken: Snow White
3. Two girls were named after flowers in the book: Anna Hibiscus and Tiger Lily
4. What did Snow White do to Aunty Joly when Tiger Lily’s daddy came to visit? He landed on her head and flew away with her head tie
5. Who was called Pronto? The old he-goat
6. Tiger Lily had these in her house instead of people. Screens/Television sets

 Next Book of the Week (25/May/2015 – 01/June/2015): ELLIE AND THE CAT by Malorie Blackman