Postcards

Christian Epanya, Le Petit Photographe, De Bamba (The Little Photographer Of Bamba). Paris: Sorbier, 2007. 24 pp ISBN: 9782732038827 (picture book, 4 – 8)

Available now only in French, this title offers an authentic look at city life in contemporary Mali. The Cameroonian author-illustrator, Christian Epanya, expertly captures in oil paint the vibrant colors of a sun-drenched environment. The rich patterns in the clothing and headgear of the characters are particularly striking. The story is based on a well-known photographer who lived and worked in Mali. Instead of quietly accepting his destiny to live the life of a fisherman like everyone else in Bamba, the young protagonist, Amadou, follows his own path and becomes a highly accomplished photographer. The powerful message - that one is able to shape one's own destiny with the support of a mentor - has universal appeal. The brief text might be used effectively in a French class or be translated by a French speaker. (Thanks to Cécile Toubou for her English translation for this reviewer). The images convey the story so effectively that one can "talk" the book in languages other than French. We need more titles like Le Petit Photographe de Bamba; picture books that accurately reflect modern life in African countries.

Jeffrey Brewster

Ted & Betsy Lewin, Horse Song: The Naadam of Mongolia. New York, NY: Lee and Low, 2008 48 pp ISBN 9781584302773 (picture book, all ages)

Young listeners and readers of all ages will enjoy this trip to Mongolia with the Lewins. Fast-paced text is combined with vivid watercolor paintings to carry them off to attend the Naadam, an annual horse racing festival featuring fast horses ridden by child jockeys. In this stunning large-format book they meet nine-year-old Tamir, who will ride a half-wild horse fourteen miles across the Gobi Desert. They experience, through the text and the detailed full-color illustrations, the race itself as well as the life of families of nomadic horse trainers living 800 miles away from Mongolia's capital city, Ulaanbaatar.

End-notes provide a glossary of Mongolian words as well as facts about life in ger (tent) camps on the Ongiin steppe and help to answer questions that fascinated readers and listeners are certain to have. Those who enjoy this trip may wish to travel with Ted Lewin again in How Much? Visiting Markets Around the World (HarperCollins Publishers, 2006).

The Lewins are both recipients of Caldecott Honor citations from the American Library Association for picture book illustration.

Glenna Sloan

Eun-hee Choung, Minji's Salon. South Korea: Sang Publishing, 2007 First US edition: La Jolla, CA: Kane/Miller, 2008. unpaged ISBN-13: 978-1-933605-67-8 (picture book, 4–8)

Peeking through the window of the salon where her mother is getting her hair styled inspires Minji to give her dog the same beauty treatment at home.

The situation is set up in a series of preliminary wordless pages that show Minji and her dog following Minji's mother to the salon. In the body of the text, the pages on the left show what is going on in the salon, while the pages on the right show Minji doing the equivalent at home—and creating a mess of both the dog and the house. The last scene shows Minji in her mother's high heels peering into the window of a women's dress shop and suggests that Minji's imagination is working on another big plan. The text is minimal, allowing the expressive illustrations to convey the mirroring of adult and child activities and to celebrate a child's imaginative play. Also available in Spanish: El Salon de Minji (2008).

Carolyn Angus