Review: All Aboard for the Bobo Road by Stephen Davies and Christopher Corr

9781512415988

$17.99

All aboard for the Bobo Road! Fatima and Galo load the luggage while their dad Big Ali drives the bus. Help count bikes, sacks of rice, melons and even goats and chickens as the bus travels past Gurunsi houses, the hippo lake, waterfalls and jungle, all the way to Bobo. With the authentic setting in Burkina Faso drawn from the author's own experience, this is a wonderfully fun introduction for small children to an amazing culture.

Even the title of this book trips off the tongue in a fun way. Cheerful characters are painted in equally cheerful colors. Readers get a small taste of daily life and culture in Burkina Faso - not a place about which we have a plethora of children's books - as well as counting practice, place names, and some wonderfully descriptive vocabulary ("They judder by fruit stalls...") Once kids get past the idea that the kids are riding on the ROOF of the minibus, they can marvel at just how much goes into and on that minibus.

A fun introduction to a place the author clearly loves to call home. Gift with a nonfiction book about Burkina Faso, or a toy bus with people and animals to pick up on the way through the living room.