Teresa Cardenas, illustrated by Margarita Sada,
Oloyou
Groundwood Press, 2008

Rating: E*

‘In the beginning before the ages that were to come, nothing existed in the Universe. There was only darkness, silence and emptiness. And because God was still a child and didn’t know how to invent things yet, he was very bored in those never-ending shadows.’

So begins this Yoruba creation story told in English and Spanish and illustrated with evocative and whimsical paintings in which the child God’s first creation is a cat named Oloyou. The kind of cat familiar to us all - ‘One who never tired of playing nor of having its back rubbed, and who spent long, happy days playing with its creator.’

But one day, falling off its cloud, Oloyou tumbles into the Sea - named Okún Aró - who is not happy with the new arrival and leaves him stranded on a rock. Okún Aró’s daughter is the lovely Kandili, with whom Oloyou falls in love. But her father’s resistance to their attachment and his monumental anger drives the pair out of the sea and into the heavens. There, Kandili becomes the Night in the Sky, bedecked with stars, and Oloyou a blazing comet.

The melding of Caribbean and African religious and cultural history are conveyed in this lovely book through Cáradenas’ fine use of language and Sada’s evocative illustrations. It is a lovely and important addition to a collection of world tales, and a new take on a topic that many writers continue to bring new insights and cultural perspectives to - introducing children to a world of story which explores the complexity and possibilities of the origin of the world and the creatures and other natural elements in it.

Thematic Links: Yoruba Tales; Cats; Creation

Lois Peterson
Vol. 14, number 2
December 2008

*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.