Cheryl Foggo, illustrated by Qin Leng,
Dear Baobab
Second Story Press, 2011.

Rating: G

Dear Baobab is set in North America and is about a seven year old boy named Maiko. Maiko has moved from a village in Africa to live with his aunt and uncle in a red brick house. In Maiko’s old home there was a giant baobab tree more than 2000 years old. At Maiko’s new home there is a spruce tree by the front door that is the same age as Maiko.

Maiko misses his old home and the baobab tree. He confides to the new tree "… how lonely he felt as the wind blew him across the wide ocean in an airplane, and how strange it was, at first, to sleep in the red brick house".

The story proceeds as Maiko adjusts to his new home with the help of his aunt and uncle. He and Aunt Ajia paint a baobab tree on Maiko’s bedroom wall. Maiko attends school. Maiko makes a friend but another classmate teases him. He discovers the fun of Halloween and the wonder of snow. The adjustment to new surroundings is tenuous and threatened when Maiko discovers that the spruce tree must be moved because it could damage the house. When it is announced that the little spruce will be the family’s Christmas tree, he tells Uncle Peter how he feels about the tree. Together they come up with a solution and the tree is moved to the Birthplace Forest on Maiko’s birthday in the spring. Maiko tells the tree "You see, we can’t always grow where we are planted. But we still can grow somewhere else."

Dear Baobab is a suitable and engaging story for young children adapting to change. It is a good story for both children who experience the change of culture and to children meeting others from another country/culture. It accents the importance of people’s connections to their surroundings.

Qin Leng illustrates the story with sensitivity. The expressions on the characters faces are appealing. The distinction between seasons is emphasized with the vivid greens of spring and summer, the bright colours of fall and the whiteness of winter.

This book is highly recommended for both school and public libraries. It is suitable for both individual readers and for story time.

Thematic Links: Children - Moving; Family; Belonging; Trees

Laura Reilly
Vol. 17, number 1
October 2011

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.