ABC 11. The Flying Tortoise

For the next Anansi Book Club book in July (here's the July calendar), it's our first book by a wonderful Maasai author from Tanzania, Tololwa Mollel, and I hope it will not be the last of his books that we read this year. Int his book, he has retold an Igbo Tortoise story (and it's a trickster-tale-type that you can find throughout Africa and in the African Diaspora as well): THE FLYING TORTOISE: An Igbo Tale. I hope you enjoy the book and will share your thoughts at Twitter if you are so inclined; our hashtag is #AnansiBookClub.

The illustrations are by Barbara Spurll, and I really like the way she is able to bring such expressiveness to the faces of the animal characters! Here is Mbeku the Tortoise setting his plans in motion with help from his only friend, Ngwele the Lizard, who is a great character in this story too. My guess is that while Lizard is busy sewing the feathers into wings for Tortoise, Tortoise is thinking that he might like to eat that lovely little butterfly: he's got a dangerous, hungry look on his face!

I also like that you can see distinctively African birds in the illustrations too, like the hornbill over to the far left here:

And here's a close-up of the hornbill; you can read more about hornbills at Wikipedia.

And here's a fabulous video with some mongooses and a hornbill:

The Tortoise is a popular trickster in different Nigerian storytelling traditions, but Tortoise's notorious tricks are famous all over Africa. Here is a version of the story of Tortoise and the Birds from Zambia in southern Africa, as told by Godfrey Chanda, a farmer. In this version, Tortoise claims his name is "Everybody," with the same results as in the story told by Mollel: Why Tortoise's Shell Is Cracked, from the book Stories Gogo Told Me by Lisa Grainger, with illustrations by  Celia von Poncet:

The story about the flying tortoise is found not only across the African continent; it is also a story told by African storytellers in the Diaspora. For example, in Folklore of Antilles, Elsie Clews Parsons recorded 13 different versions of this story. Very helpfully, she provides English summaries of all the stories, including the stories collected in French. She classifies the story as 36. The Birds Take Back Their Feathers. The stories come from Trinidad, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Les Saints, Montserrat, Antigua, Nevis, and Saint Martin. Five of the stories are about Tortoise, and there are stories with other characters instead, including both Rabbit and Anansi. Here's the summary of one of the versions about Tortoise, and the title lets you know that you can find the story (it's in French), in volume 1, p. 12; you can click on each screenshot below for a larger view: 

I really like the detail of the Tortoise using his flippers to stop anyone else from even trying to get something to eat!

As I mentioned above, Tololwa Mollel is a prolific children's book author, and I hope we'll be reading more from him this year! Here is another one of his books with illustrations by Barbara Spurll:

Rhinos for Lunch, and Elephants for Supper:

A Maasai Tale

Mollel has worked with other illustrators too, as you can see below, and you can find even more of his work at the Archive: books by Tololwa Mollel.

The Princess Who Lost Her Hair:

An Akamba Legend

illustrated by Charles Reasoner

Ananse's Feast: An Ashanti Tale

illustrated by Andrew Glass

The Orphan Boy

illustrated by Paul Morin

I also found this lovely video interview with some writing tips: Capital City Press - Tololwa M. Mollel Spotlight. Plus you can find him at Twitter: @tolmollel. 

Meanwhile, I hope you will enjoy this week's book: it is a famous story, wonderfully told, with great illustrations too, all just a click away thanks to Controlled Digital Lending at the Internet Archive.