Title: Southern Hemisphere Folktale Adventure
Author: Kathleen Whitham
Illustrator: Mina Anguelova
Publisher: MindSpring Books
ISBN: 979-8-89114-291-6
Pages: 40
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Educational
Reviewer: Beth Adams
Hollywood Book Reviews
Combining a fantastically colorful children’s story with a large dose of education, author Kathleen Whitham has created a book all youngsters will enjoy. The story takes place on Mother’s Day when a young girl, Olivia, and her cousins Jack and Wells, go outside to collect some wildflowers, when they come across a spaceship and meet the captain. The “SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE EXPRESS” was written on the side of the craft, and SHEC, the captain, told the kids they can come aboard and see what’s down on the other side of the equator, in the Southern Hemisphere, but not to worry, they’d be back for the picnic with their moms.
So, with a WHOOSH, they bolted up to space and landed moments later in Australia. Greeted by a guide named Cooper, he said, “G’day Mates” and began to educate the kids about the local animals and customs of this continent/country. Here readers see the pattern which follows the narrative as the spaceship then blasts off and lands in Peru. In Peru they are greeted by Llama who was really good at climbing – so much so that the folklore said it attached a rope to the crescent moon. Before they knew it, the group took off again and landed in Argentina, another Spanish-speaking country. There they are told of a clever armadillo who planted ears of corn.
WOOSH the group is taken to Kenya and told of a Hippopotamus seeking to stay mostly in the water but the creator thought it would eat all of the fish, so the hippo would open its mouth often, like a big yawn, but showing there are no fish bones in its mouth. Then onto China, which has its southern part back to near the equator. There the story was about Zhu Yingtai and how she was disguised as a boy, who later found love which, due to complications, transformed them into butterflies, which represented freedom and beauty. WHOOSH, back to their home and in time for the picnic celebration.
The book opens the eyes of children to different foreign cultures, each with a vast description about unique animals dwelling on the other half of the planet. The book has an ending glossary of some words in foreign languages and will certainly be enjoyed many times over when re-reading the story, further embedding all the factual knowledge into the readers’ fertile, growing minds.
Southern Hemisphere Folktale Adventure is a well-deserving book to be found in all home libraries, offering a window into the diversity and history of cultures around the world. Kathleen Whitham has created a marvelously educational book disguised as a children’s story which all readers will enjoy. Perfect for bedtime reading or classroom discussions, this delightful book reminds us that great stories have the power to unite people across continents and generations.