Accompanied by Jackson’s swirling images evoking African tales filled with movement, Farmer tells the story of difference among family members, the disparity and inequities even within cultures, and asks the reader to consider what it truly means to be rich. Uncle Zeka has just come from Mozambique, where bandits burned his village and tsetse flies and disease killed off all the animals, to stay with his brother and family in Zimbabwe. Uncle Zeka introduces them to caterpillar stew and roasted termites; Tapiwa, despite the fact that she is the smartest girl in school, is made fun of by her classmates because her father’s car is run down and clunky. She practices the art of invisibility, but her Uncle sees her. Aunt Rudo is very rich and must be invited everywhere lest she refuse to pay Tapiwa’s expensive school fees. Uncle Zeka may seem like a disgrace, but Tapiwa knows better, and learns the strongest lesson of life from him.
If You Liked This, Try: From Far and Wide: A Canadian Citizenship Scrapbook by Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet, The Warm Place by Nancy Farmer, Amazon Fever by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, The Year of the Panda by Miriam Schlein, Turtle Bay by Saviour Pirotta ( )