TWU LS 5603 - PoetryReviews - IS IT FAR TO ZANZIBAR?

Grimes, Nikki, and Betsy Lewin. 2000. IS IT FAR TO ZANZIBAR?: POEMS ABOUT TANZANIA. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Bookks. ISBN 0688131579

PLOT SUMMARY

IS IT FAR TO ZANZIBAR? Is a thirteen poem compilation about Tanzania, its people and its culture. Poems express traditions of homecomings, modes of transportation, native animals, native fruits and other foods and rituals of coffee bean picking.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This individual poet compilation of thirteen poems about Tanzania is a sneak peek into the daily life of the people of this country. The poems range from 4 lines to 24 lines and each is richly illustrated by Betsy Lewin with a combination of watercolors and color sketches. Most of the poems have a 2 beat or 4 beat metered feel.  This is very good for chanting or adding instruments, when reading or reciting aloud. Most of the poems have “a,a,b,b” rhyming scheme. Grimes intersperses these poems with words in Swahili like in “Haraka, Haraka” a poem about elders telling a girl to “hurry up.”  There is a vocabulary page provided in the back of this book with 18 vocabulary words used throughout the book. Overall this is a delightful book with a humorous and childish view of crowded buses, jungle animals and native foods.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Booklist 03/15/00

Library Talk 11/01/00

Kirkus Review 04/15/00

New York Times 06/04/00

Booklist (Vol. 96, No. 14 (March 15, 2000) - “This work is very different from Grimes' powerful poetry and realistic fiction about city kids in the U.S. Here the rhyming, sing-song verse is light and playful, an outsider's view of a Tanzania where everyone's having fun: tourists are on camels, local kids and adults are on bikes, trucks, and jam-packed buses.”

CONNECTIONS

Axtell, David. 2000. WE’RE GOING ON A LION HUNT. New York: Holt. ISBN 0805061592

·         Partner this book to compare adventures in Africa

Heale, Jay. 1998. TANZANIA. New York: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 0761408093

·          Partner this book to study the geography and history of the region

Kilaka, John. 2006. TRUE FRIENDS: A TALE FROM TANZANIA. Toronto: Groundwood Books. ISBN 0888996985

·         Partner this book to discuss a Tanzanian folktale