Books published by publisher Struik Children

The Big Bird Battle tells the story of a turf war between two rival gangs: the Hard Hadedas and the Foul Guinea Fowl, each of which believes they have sole rights to the local park. As the other users of the park go about their daily activities, the rival birds harass and challenge each other. Their noisy scuffles cause a disruption until, finally, a pair of Egyptian geese intervene. Being larger than hadedas or guinea fowl, the geese soon take over, forcing the warring birds out of the park. As night falls and peace descends, the reader is left wondering whether this is truly the end of the conflict, or if the big bird battle will begin again as soon as the sun comes up.

Ma and Pa Ostrich have a clutch of eggs that are almost ready to hatch. But while Ma Ostrich is out for her morning stroll, another egg rolls in front of her so she kindly takes it home to be with her own. Soon her own chicks hatch, as does the stranger chick, who they call Taka. He is welcomed into the family and treated exactly as one of their own. But no matter how much he tries to do the same things as his playmates, he struggles to do what they do and looks odd too. What’s more he has a constant longing to stretch his wings and fly up into the sky. But the ostrich family fear that he will come to terrible harm and stop him from flying. After all, ostriches simply don’t fly. It isn’t long before a terrible drought begins and the ostrich family are desperate for water. Taka wants to help and says if they’ll alow him, he could fly until he can find a place where there is water. And sure enough, that is what Taka does. It’s then that the ostriches realise that Taka isn’t really an ostrich at all but a magnificent eagle. The rhyming verse is accompanied by charming and often humourous illustration, that are bound to capture the imagination of young readers.

This is the true tale of Alice Kirk and Nicko, the baby vervet monkey that was found abandoned on her home farm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Alice and her husband Jack shared their home with a menagerie of animals – both domestic and wild! Alice agreed to raise Nicko and he remained there as her companion until he died of old age at 17. The story encompasses his interaction with the other animals of the household, as well as humans. It carries the reader through a range of adventures and emotions from the wonderfully whacky and hilarious to alarming and sometimes sad. Author Penny Haw is the granddaughter of Alice and throughout her childhood, Penny was entertained with the stories of Nicko’s escapades. She now retells these tales in the first person through Alice’s ‘voice’. Children (of all ages) will enjoy them, and the relationship between Nicko and Alice, and Nicko and the other animal species, will fascinate all animal lovers.

What On Earth is That? is a story in rhyming text about a pangolin – the world’s least-known yet most-trafficked mammal. The author’s son Luke invites young readers or listeners on a journey asking various animals what they think the odd-looking creature is that he and a friend have unearthed. In the process, it’s revealed just what extraordinary and endearing animals pangolins are and how deserving they are of our protection as an endangered species. A section at the end of the book provides some interesting facts on pangolins and shows the work being done to fight for their survival.

The rich folklore culture of Africa has been passed down by word of mouth through countless generations. Dianne Stewart has a passion for collecting and retelling these stories, making them accessible to a whole new audience. In The Guineafowl’s Spots and Other African Bird Tales she has created a unique collection of African folktales, exclusively about birds. Drawn from across the continent, these tales often draw on human characteristics and are followed by African proverbs that illustrate various moral lessons. This fascinating collection includes classic tales such as ‘Why Flamingo Stands on One Leg’ from Nigeria, ‘The Laughing Dove’ from North Africa, and the Xhosa tale ‘The Bird That Could Make Milk’. Beautiful illustrations by Richard Mackintosh bring to life the magic of the stories and the beauty of the birds themsleves. Many of the tales include additional facts on the featured birds.

This illustrated alphabet book showcases African animals and other objects that local children will recognise. To enhance basic letter recognition, the left-hand pages feature bold, full-page letters in upper and lower case that are large enough for small fingers to trace around to practise each letter shape. Each illustration includes a single sentence introducing an animal. The sentence structure is the same for each animal, to encourage reading due to the repetitive nature of the text. The names of each animal have been carefully selected as common names in Southern Africa. Built into each illustration is a series of items or actions that begin with the featured letter of the alphabet. Children are encouraged to find all of the things that begin with each letter. This aids in phonetic processing as each word needs to be said aloud to determine whether it begins with the correct letter.

Shongololo is a greedy little worm who lives happily in his garden but refuses to share it with anyone. In fact, he is proud of the fact that he has no friends. Then one day, disaster strikes when a hungry eagle decides that he will make a juicy snack! After his nastiness, will the other garden creatures want to rescue Shongololo? Young readers will be drawn into the drama of this tale of selfishness, kindness and compassion, accompanied by imaginative and colourful illustrations.

Nandi Sings is the story of a very little girl who doesn’t speak much at first, and instead makes up her own songs without words but with many sounds. And because the adults and siblings in her household all tell her to keep quiet, she sings while feeding the chickens and drawing in the sand. It’s only her Gogo who encourages her to listen to the sounds of different animals and to keep singing. Even as she grows up, Nandi continues to follow the music in her heart and sings her own songs – even ones with words! Eventually, when she sings in the church choir, no one tells her to be quiet because they are all listening to her.

I See an Elephant tells the tale of a gentle elephant who wishes he was bird. He starts to build a nest, but when the birds laugh at his attempts and try to chase him away, Elephant takes a stand, declaring that he should be able to live as he chooses. Realising that he is right, the birds accept him as one of them, and help him transform into an ‘ele-bird’.

Ten-year old Themba dreams of joining his father and older brother in chasing the elephants away if they should come to eat their corn, as they did last year. Sadly, everyone tells him that he is too young and must stay at home to protect his mother, sister and grandfather while his father and brother are away. But danger lurks much closer to home! Readers will have to find out if Themba will be brave enough for the challenge. The book concludes with factual information on elephants, with colour photographs. The story is set in Ngamo Village in the Tsholotsho District on the southern border of the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Ngamo has a primary and secondary school, and the primary school looks exactly like the school featured in the story. Money raised from the sale of the book goes towards furthering literacy and education in the Tsholotsho District. For more information, visit www.hwange-schools.com or www.imvelosafarilodges.com