cover image Kalinzu: A Story from Africa

Kalinzu: A Story from Africa

Jeremy Grimsdell. Larousse Kingfisher Chambers, $14.95 (1pp) ISBN 978-1-85697-886-6

The buffalo calf Kalinzu knows no nuisances but the red-billed ox-peckers who ride her back looking for ticks--until a trio of hyenas encircles her and Amani, her mother. The herd stampedes to their rescue, scaring the hyenas away. In the rush, Kalinzu is separated from Amani. By following her former nemesis, an ox-pecker, she is led to the herd and her mother. With a palette and style reminiscent of Barbara Wirth ( Let's Go Home, Little Bear ), Grimsdell depicts the East African grasslands both realistically and beneficently, with an accuracy tempered by soft color and line. Even the drawing of a buffalo skeleton seems natural, neither morbid nor ominous. Without relying on anthropomorphisms, Grimsdell makes the reader care quite a bit about this little calf in a pickle. An impressive first book. Ages 3-8. (Oct.)