February is Millennium Development Goals Month

 

 Title: Aliyyah Learns a New Dance

Author: Fatima Akilu

Publisher: Cassava Republic Press

Number of pages: 32

Type of Book: Fiction; Educational

Age: 4 – 8

Buy it here: http://www.cassavarepublic.biz/products/aliyyah-learns-a-new-dance

Price: N1200

MY SUMMARY

Aliyyah loved dancing and she was very good at it too. One day, she was chosen to represent Nigeria at an African dance competition in Tanzania. At the competition, she met and befriended dancers from different African countries especially Fanta, from Ghana. A month after winning the competition in Tanzania, Aliyyah was invited to represent Nigeria in another dance competition, this time in Sweden. Aliyyah, her family, her school, in fact the whole country were ecstatic. Her brother Ashraf started practicing new dance moves with her, the whole school suggested new dance moves, a national competition was even held to design her costume for the competition.

Shortly afterwards, she travelled to Sweden where she met young dancers from all over the world, Japan, China, India, Serbia. She learnt about their culture, e.g. the Japanese Kimono, the Indian Sari and she learnt new languages too (some words in Hindi and Cantonese).

Read the book to learn whether or not Aliyyah won the competition and all the things she learnt from her new friends. Other books in the MDG series by the same author are Ngozi comes to town and Preye and the sea of Plastic, see review here.

THUMBS UP AND DOWN

UP: It emphasizes the Millennium Development Goal of developing global partnerships. It shows young readers that the world is a global village and we should learn as much as possible from and about our neighbours.

It also shows them that hard work pays, that anything worth doing is worth doing well and that they should strive for excellence in everything. Aliyyah is seen practicing a few times in the book and winning prizes afterwards. Most importantly, it shows young readers the advantages and the need for forging global partnerships. Aliyyah’s costume for the competition in Sweden was sewn by a tailor in Abeokuta, with a fabric made in a Chinese-owned factory in Calabar. This fabric was made from cotton grown in Nigeria whose seeds were sourced in the United States.

It ends with a beautiful line ‘Who thought I could learn so much through dance?”

DOWN: None.

RATING

5 Stars

TRIVIA

1. The subject of this story is the Millennium Development Goal of developing global partnerships.

HAVE FUN WITH THIS BOOK

1. Read an excerpt here: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0103/7312/files/Pages_from_Aliyyah_2011.2.pdf?3813
2. Jigsaw puzzle here: http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=2ac0249767c7
3. Learn more about the 7^th Millennium Development Goal here: https://www.unicef.org/mdg/files/childfriendlymdgs_edited.pdf

CHALLENGE: Aliyyah Learns a New Dance

CREATE (WRITE a Story/Poem OR DRAW)

1. Draw a girl in a Fulani outfit (4 – 6 year olds)

2. List the Millennium Development Goals? (7 – 8 year olds)

OR

3. Name the traditional clothing worn by women in the following countries
   1. India
   2. Japan
   3. China
   4. Scotland

Find them in the crossword puzzle below (7 – 8 year olds)

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Send your answers to ugochinyelu.anidi@gmail.com

Entry requirements: Entrants must be within the 4 – 8 age range. The first correct entry will be announced on this page and will win a copy of this book.

Answers must be submitted before 12:00am on Thursday, February 9^th 2017.

Next Book of the Week:

THE RED TRANSISTOR RADIO by Fatima Akilu

 

photo credit: cassavarepublic.biz