Quickly! quickly! by T.M. Clark. Illus. by Helene Magisson

Wombat Books promotes ‘stories that connect us all’ and with this in mind, their books have an overarching positive theme of the importance of family and relationships in different parts of the world. Quickly! quickly! does just that.

Bongani’s job, as he is too young for school, is keeping the animals away from the all important crops. Monkeys love the mangoes and the crows love the seed. Bongani tells his grandmother that he will catch a crow and sit it on a scarecrow to watch over the crops, but grandma is dubious. She tells him that he will need to be clever, and quick and cunning to catch a crow, and they set out to do this, the older woman making a basket under which they place seed to catch the crow. But crows are cunning and when one is caught it feigns an injury, thus escaping the trap.

This is a warm and endearing look at life in an African village: the roles of the villagers shown as they till the soil and sow and harvest their crops, aware of the animals that will try to steal their efforts. Each person has a role to play and Bongani in keeping away the animals, tries to do more for his family. He and his grandmother work together to achieve their goals and together with the crow manage to keep away some of the pesky animals. But a twist in the tale on the last page will have readers laughing.  And watch out for the play on words; scared crow and scarecrow.

Beautifully illustrated, the pages show a village and all the work done by the families. Readers are given a wonderful insight into the life in this village, and learn that children the world over have smaller tasks to do to help the family grow and prosper. The background tells us about how people live in this village, how they are dependent on each other and the work they all do. I loved the vistas of the African landscape with boab and palm trees, small mountains and the parade of animals that the villagers have to contend with.  

Zimbabwe born T. M. Clark, now living in Australia, loves the wild world, including different cultures in her writing. And read more about T. M. Clark and her work here.

Themes: Africa, Village life, Families, Grandparents, Crops.

Fran Knight