Eli and the Uncles

Every year Eli’s mum drops him off to the abode of his eight uncles and there he spends the whole day. Each of the uncles is tall but each is taller than the previous one and each has a beard, a very stylish one.

There’s Uncle Mahmoud who regales Eli with wonderful stories. Uncle Salim cooks and serves up all Eli’s favourite foods. Uncle Hanif and Uncle Aman entertain the boy with their singing and dancing respectively whereas Uncle Riz’s way of entertaining is to tell jokes. Uncle Farouk and Uncle Aziz are constantly arguing either with each other or everyone else. That leaves Uncle Nooru, whom Eli dubs ‘a world champion nap-taker’. Following all this entertaining, everybody sits down at a very large table to eat dinner together. Then with the washing up completed Eli’s mum comes to pick him up. The process of saying goodbye and goodnight to his uncles is rather a protracted business as Eli enjoys each uncle’s beard be it slippery with oil (Uncle Mahmoud), long and curly, waterfall-like – that’s Uncle Hanif’s, scratchy, springy, puffy like a pillow soft and woolly; then last of all, thick and bristly just like a bear. Finally Eli is carried to the car and as Mum drives the lad home he dreams of his eight uncles and ‘eight especially elegant beards.’

Despite the wealth of description, the narrative is not particularly engaging, rather it lists each uncle’s interest. It’s the vibrantly coloured, quirky illustrations that animate each uncle; there’s Uncle Aziz in his sports gear and Uncle Aman sporting a cowboy hat and boots for instance.