We had a rather full house at our Kids Book Club meeting this month! It is such a lovely gathering with all the wonderful members from all walks of life who have the same thing in common: the love of books!
To continue in our trend, our hostess, Leigh Cox, read a story for the kids called Papa Lucky’s Shadow, written and illustrated by well-loved South African author/illustrator Niki Daly. Many of the kids have met Niki Daly earlier the year at our joint Literacy celebration with Thorntree Preparatory School, and they remember the wonderful interaction with him. Niki has written and illustrated many children’s picture books and chapter books, of which his newest additions are the Thoko series (Here comes Thoko (2017) and Sharp-sharp! Thoko (2018)).
Niki is currently involved with a project to in funds for the Maman Fanny Orphanage fund, in benefit of an orphanage in the city of Bafoussam, Cameroon. The orphanage is about to close down due to the withdrawal of a sponsor, which will cause many children to go back to live on the streets. Niki started a project in which he invited artists and illustrators to join him in turning art into funds that can be added to the pot at leechi. There will be a sale of available art for this project on Niki’s Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/niki.daly.7 on 27 July 2018. The art can be bought by paying into the pot, and in turn the artist whose work is purchased will send the art to the purchaser. What a worthy cause and wonderful example!
Back to our Book Club Meeting! In Papa Lucky’s Shadow, Sugar’s grandfather, Papa Lucky, takes his love of dancing onto the street to earn some extra money, and shows why he was a dancing champion in his younger days – much to the delight of his granddaughter. When Papa Lucky makes Sugar her own set of tap-shoes, she joins her grandfather in dancing a lively duet, and Sugar becomes Papa Lucky’s Shadow, even though her mom doesn’t exactly approve.
We also had a surprise guest! Eldiré Strauss, a teacher at Mokopane Primary School, came to tell us more about tap-dancing, and dancing in general, and she and Meghann (a student) performed a tap-dance sequence they’ve been practicing all year. Eldiré mentioned that dancing should be for fun, but it can also help to get rid of unwanted stress and other negative emotions, especially before jumping into less-lovable tasks like homework!
Eldiré offers tap-dancing sessions for those interested in doing it for fun, and our Kids Book Club Admin can be contacted for further information to learn and participate.
The story Pappa Lucky’s Shadow mentions a song called Me and My Shadow, and you can listen to a new version of the song here:
Our next Book Club Meeting will take place on 25 August 2018!
Until then, Happy Reading!
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