The Village of Round and Square Houses

Picturemac have lately taken the opportunity to produce some very striking and challenging stories from a wide variety of cultures. This story, from the Cameroons, is to be welcomed as another successful addition to the list. The village in which the story is set really exists and its legend, which explains the unusual living arrangements of the villagers, is told by a young girl who lived there. Illustrated in soft, smudgy pastel with great dignity and beauty, the legend fascinated my seven-year-olds. They were interested in the details of everyday living and its relationship to their own lives ('I bet that fou-fou stuff is like mashed potato') and the clarity of the writing helped where otherwise the culture gap might have been hard to bridge. There is only one point which more sophisticated children might want answering; 'If the men live in the square houses and the ladies in the round ones, how do the babies get made?' A problem to ponder on!