The Tree House Children: An African Tale

The Brothers Grimm would likely have appreciated this absorbing African yarn, a debut for both author and artist, full of classic European folktale elements. A brother and sister are told to lower the rope ladder of their treehouse only when their fisherman father calls them (``Children, children, in the tree, drop the ladder down to me''). But a hungry witch replicates the father's fishy smell, imitates his voice and climbs the tree, then takes the children home to her hot, bubbly caldron. The father rescues the children but later invites the witch (disguised as a hungry old woman) into the treehouse. The savvy children slip into her bowl a fishhook that pierces her heart, eventually freeing all the children she has ever eaten. This compelling--if a bit scary--text, with Kromer's earthy watercolors and African-patterned borders, offers children a satisfying, nurturing link with an often neglected tradition. Ages 4-7. (Apr.)