DIAMONDS IN THE MUD: the story will drag you to a new world

RABBITAL KINGDOM: AN AWARD BOOK REVIEWED BY ABDUL HAYI MOOMEN

Growing up as a child in Wa, Tamale and Accra, most of the literature I and many children of my generation were exposed to came from the west. Stories like Little Red Riding Hood, The 3 Bears, Robin Hood, Snow white, Peter Pan etc, were the stories we were exposed to. Nursery rhymes made in Europe, were always on our lips – Humpty Dumpty, Black Black Black Sheep and “Fox fox fox”

The closest we came to Ghanaian authors and writings for Ghanaian children were through a few stories like “The Hawk and the Hen” Red lions and the Green Hawks” and “ Alidu and His Goat”

Unfortunately, over a period, it appears Ghanaians have not just writing for children, but have stopped writing altogether. That is why I am excited about RABBITAL KINGDOM 

It's incredible how a storyteller could make their mark during a time period in which stories aren’t  written, or even told orally.

RABBITAL KINGDOM, is short in structure -  perfect book for children. When the author gave me the book to read for the purposes of this review, the first thing I did was to hand it over to my 7 year old son to read. Within 20 minutes he was done with it.

When I asked him what he enjoyed most about the book, his answer was “ The picture that accompany the story made it more exciting”. The Author’s use of pictures to illustrate the plot of the story at every turn of the page is very significant. Picture books help children connect what they observe with how they reason, linking concepts with words. Picture books introduce children to a love of art in a way that just taking a child to an art gallery can't achieve. The illustrations aren't mere decoration to the text. They enhance the story and emotions.

The RABBITAL KINGDOM tells one story but delivers several morals. The opening pages of the book paint a picture of a happy Kingdom ruled by King Samad and Queen Safina. Soon, the happiness turned into gloom and despair as the citizens of Rabbital Kingdom struggled to find food to eat. Throughout the period of hardship, some of the rabbits disobeyed their leaders whiles others despaired and lost hope. Eventually, those who persevered, emerged victorious and the days of happiness retuned to them – even better than before.

One of the lessons RABBITAL KINGDOM teaches is what Albert Einstein puts in another way, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”  There are good moments and challenging moments. But, you must keep moving and pushing forward, even when you’re facing a particularly difficult situation. You’ve also got to recognize and appreciate the good moments when you have them.

When the situation became unbearable, queen Safina suggested that the rabbits migrate to another land. The rabbits were sad that they were being asked to leave their homes to an unknown place. However, many of them trusted their leaders and obliged, The few who disobeyed were faced with death and destruction.  The comfort zone syndrome has been able to stagnate the development of many people. By bringing up the issue of moving from Rabbital Kingdom to another land, the book teaches us to move away from our comfort zones and challenge ourselves some more. The more one stays in one’s comfort zone, the more likely it is for that persons ambitions to stagnate, or even dies just as these rabbits who refused to move died.

The author subtly raises the theme of unity. Unity is strength. . . when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. A wind that was strong enough to blow away a whole Kingdom could not blow the individual rabbits away because they stuck together. 

Thereafter, the book introduces the subject of Kindness. When Haleel, who prefers to be called Leel, gave the little food he had to the starving rabbits from rabbital Kingdom, he didn’t even know them. He was Green in colour while the other rabbits were white. However, Leel did not allow the difference in colour to dissuade him from helping the other rabbits. His show of kindness was replicated by the other rabbits who consoled the grieving Leel who had lost his parents to the storm.

This lesson on kindness then dovetails into another lesson – a lesson not to stereotype others. During their migration, the rabbits from rabbital Kingdom were faced with hunger and thirst. And when they came across an apple tree, their hopes of finding something to eat were dashed because up on the apple tree, sat a snake. The general impression was that the snake, per its nature, would harm them if they tried to get to the apples. Contrary to their suspicion, the snake allowed them to eat the apples – an act that saved their lives. John 7:24 King James Version (KJV) says Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Female empowerment comes to play in the story when after a very difficult moment in their journey, the rabbits had come to a point where they had all despaired and given up hope, the Queen, Safina was the one who, Like Yaa Asantewaa, brought back hope and courage to the rabbits through her words. ……“ Don’t you believe in God? Look how far we have come. Why do you want to give up now? Pull yourselves together and let’s keep moving!”……..

The story ends with a beautiful illustration of the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel”. All too aften, just when victory is near, we tend to get destructed by the “noise” around us. Just when the
rabbits where approaching the promised land where carrots and and food items were in abudance, some of the rabbits began to fight over “rotten carrots”. When we take our eyes off the ultimate goal, we may fight over rotten carrots, whiles other enjoy milk and honey.

The content of this story is thought-provoking but what makes it absolutely delightful is the vigour and originality of Samiha Suleman’s writing. The illustrations by Gavin Weston are likewise magnificent.

We could call the Author Ghana’s version of Aesop of the famous fables attributed to the mysterious Aesop, who probably lived in Greece in the 5th century BC.

The story suits the mood of contemporary times. It discusses all the moral lessons today's children need for both their academic and moral uprightness.The story is flexible, which is one reason that I believe will account for its continuous appeal to parents and children alike for a very long time to come.

This book is quirky and darkly sparkling – a welcome feast of lessons for our times.

If there's room on the shelf for only one picture book, this should be it!