Forest Singer-Picture Book # 7

Author: Sylvia Sikundar
Title: Forest Singer
Illustrations: Alison Astill
Readability Score: Kindergarten-Grade 2
Genre: Fiction
Sub genre: Realistic Fiction
Theme: Never give up on your dreams or goals in life
Primary and secondary characters: Mabuti is the primary character, Mabuti's grandmother, the children and the people of the Pygmy tribe, and the animals (doves, monkeys, birds) are secondary characters
Awards: N/A
Date of publication: 1999
Publishing company: Barefoot Books
ISBN number: 1-902283-60-0
Summary: This book is about a young boy named Mabuti and how he lives in a forest on the ancient slopes of the mountains in Africa. He is a Pygmy and this particular group loved to sing. However, Mabuti could not carry a tune and he was teased by the children. He went out into the forest to practice his singing, but even the monkeys thought he was a terrible singer. Mabuti never gave up singing and practicing and he continued to sing for the other animals, such as the doves. The doves loved his singing voice and encouraged him. He even began to imitate a leopard's growl, which was believable. One day he decided to sing again with the other children, but they continued to tease him. Mabuti decided to give them a teasing of their own. He climbed up in a tree and imitated the leopard's growl. He scared the children into thinking they were going to be eaten and he had them ask Mabuti to sing them a song. The children begged the leopard not to eat them and they asked Mabuti to sing a song. After he was finished Mabuti stopped pretending to be the leopard and the children all thanked him for singing his song. According to the children, it was Mabuti's beautiful singing voice that scared the leopard away. Everyone felt very proud of him and his ability to sing away the leopard.

I liked this book because the illustrations were very in depth into the heart of Uganda. It showed scenes from the jungle and how the Pygmy's lived. I'm not sure if I agree with teaching on how Mabuti ended his plan to get the other children to accept his voice. Although he never gave up on his dreams and abilities of being a singer, he was not honest with his grandmother or tribe at the end of the book. It it just assumed that the leopard was the actual one who convinced the children to have Mabuti sing. I did like the book and the main concept is to never give up on your dreams and goals and that's what I would focus on.