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| Image Retrieved From: https://www.amazon.ca/Elizabetis-Doll/dp/B071FSDQPB |
Summary:
Elizabeti's Doll takes place in the village of Malula, Tanzania. Elizabeti is a little girl, though her age is not specified, and her mama has a new baby! Elizabeti wants her own baby, so she goes outside looking for one. She first finds a stick, but it pokes her so she puts it back down. Then she finds a round stone that's heavy like a baby and doesn't poke her when she hugs it. She names the stone Eva and adopts it as her new baby doll. She copies the way her mother treats her new little brother, changing the stone, bathing the stone, and putting it in a kanga on her back while she does chores. She sets Eva down to go fetch water for her sister, but when she returns, Eva is gone! With the help of her mother and sister, Elizabeti finds Eva and sings her to sleep.
My Impressions and How I Would Use this Book
I think this book is really sweet and could be helpful for students as they're adjusting to a new baby sibling at home. I would use this book for SEL or just as a fun story in the class library for students to read. I do think this can be a good piece of representation to show students that people all around the world, while different, do have similar experiences, such as playing with toys and using imagination, having friends and siblings, doing chores, etc. However, most Americans already have the misconception that all Africans live in small villages with no access to modern technology or resources, so I think it would be important to have multiple representations of African people groups in urban, suburban, and rural settings just like Asian, European, Latin/South American, and North American people groups do. I would want to make sure we talk about how Africa is the second largest continent and has so many different countries with multiple different cultures within each nation, just like how Canada is different than the U.S. and even how northwest Arkansas is different than southern Arkansas!
Professional Review:
Charmed by her new baby brother, Elizabeti decides that she wants a baby of her own; she picks up a smooth rock, names it Eva and washes, feeds, and changes her, and carries her about in her cloth kanga. Hale dresses Elizabeti and her family in modern, brightly patterned clothing that practically glows against the earth-toned, sketchily defined Tanzanian village in which this is set. Although Eva appears a bit too large for Elizabeti to handle as easily as she does, the illustrations reflect the story's simplicity; accompanied by an attentive hen, Elizabeti follows her indulgent mother about, mimicking each nurturing activity. The object of Elizabeti's affection may be peculiar, but the love itself is real. Later, she rescues Eva from the fire pit, tenderly cleans her, then cradles the stone until she--Elizabeti--falls asleep. Stuve-Bodeen's debut is quirky but believable, lightly dusted with cultural detail, and features universal emotions in an unusual setting. (Picture book. 6-8)
Audience: Children's
ISBN: 1-880000-70-9
Author: Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie
Retrieved From:
ELIZABETI'S DOLL. (1998). Kirkus Reviews, (16) https://login.ezproxy.jbu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/elizabetis-doll/docview/917015245/se-2
APA Citation:
Bodeen, S. A. (1998). Elizabeti’s Doll. Lee & Low Books.
A
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