Rene Deetlefs

This book was very fun filled along with being informational. A girl received a flute and decided to run through her tribe and the area around it asking animals and specifically six birds to fill the flute with music. It is somewhat fantasy because the flute does not need to be filled with music because it makes music but it makes it fun and magical for the readers. The pictures portray what an actual tribe in Africa might look like which can give the children more of an insight into the life of someone who lives in a tribe. The overall idea of this book was that you can bring everyone together including animals (the whole community) through a little spread and cheer with music.… (altro)

This is my favorite from the animals making music theme, although unlike the other books on the theme we read this week, there are no anthropomorphic animals playing instruments. The South African authors have set the story in a tiny, close-knit village where young Lindiwe wakes up one morning to find by her side an African flute, a gift from her mother. Lindiwe is grateful for the gift, but the first notes she plays frighten her baby brother. She is disappointed but is determined to find beautiful sounds to fill her flute.

As Lindiwe moves through the day, she comes upon birds and sweetly asks them to share their musical calls with her flute, always expressing her thanks. My favorite part was when the medicine man helped to heal Lindiwe after a hornet stung her and she was afraid the flute might absorb her sobs:

*****
The wise old man smiled, laying a
cool herb leaf on her throbbing arm.
"But a flute should sometimes sob,"
he said. "Ask that hoopoe."
*****

The book closes with the village, young and old, bird and human, dancing late into the night to Lindiwe's flute. (Side note: Lindiwe's mother is shown wearing her baby boy on her back - it's a nice surprise to see babywearing in a picture book!)… (altro)