Kabungo

February 29, 2016
With dry humor, a 10-year-old girl named Beverly narrates her episodic adventures with her 10-year-old best friend, Kabungo, who lives in a cave on Main Street. Rolli doesn’t dwell on how or why, exactly, a cavegirl ended up living in Star City—readers are just meant to accept it, as the town’s residents have done. Wisely, Rolli avoids giving Kabungo a stereotypical Neanderthal dialect; she sounds more like a toddler (she calls Beverly “Belly,” tiger is “targur”), playing into the sisterly way Beverly tries to teach her friend the alphabet and otherwise look after her. It’s a warm and rewarding account of a very unconventional friendship. Ages 7–10.

Starred review from February 15, 2016
"The unexpected is what happens three times a day at least" when your best friend is a cave girl. Beverly's best friend is 10-year-old Kabungo, who lives in a cave on Main Street, right next to the post office. She calls her uncivilized friend "K," and K calls her "Belly." In a quirky, gently humorous, and slightly mysterious first-person account, organized into episodic chapters titled with K's distinctive mispronunciations, Belly describes some of their unusual adventures. There's the day she follows K into the woods and finds her visiting a Dutch-speaking man she calls Grandpa; a climb up K's "family tree"; and a treasure hunt leading to a birthday surprise at the town dump. Belly struggles to teach K the alphabet and finds her a kitten K names Bun. Together they go to a Halloween party at the home of Miss VeDore, the 90-year-old pumpkin woman. The narrator's voice is distinctive, and her account is peppered with her observations and opinions. Though she's describing her friend, she reveals a lot about herself. Kabungo has few English words, but she regularly demonstrates her love for Beverly with Grateful Cavegirl Squeezes. Occasional grayscale illustrations by comic artist Pavlovic make this surreal tale seem almost real. Both girls are white, but Beverly is neatly groomed while Kabungo sports a fur tunic and uncombed hair. (Final art not seen.) Fresh and original, this appealing account of friendship celebrates differences and community. (Fiction. 7-10)

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March 1, 2016

Gr 2-5-Beverly's best friend is 10-year-old Kabungo, an uncivilized girl who lives in a cave on Main Street in Star City. Through a series of slice-of-life episodes, including pumpkin-picking, visiting the circus, and experiencing a thunderstorm, Beverly tries to teach Kabungo about life in her community. Although it is meant to be humorous, the novel is mostly confounding. There is no explanation as to why Kabungo lives in a cave, how Beverly and Kabungo came to be friends, or why no adult in Star City is concerned with the fact that a 10-year-old is living alone in a cave, though grown-ups are aware of Kabungo's existence. The last of these is particularly alarming, as Kabungo can barely speak English, is illiterate, is surrounded by filth (she is even described as having fleas), and is missing several teeth due to her unfortunate, unhygienic lifestyle. Neither Beverly nor Kabungo seem like authentic kids or genuine friends, as Beverly, who provides the first-person narration, often comes off too mature in her supervisory role and Kabungo, with her limited vocabulary and wild personality, seems much younger than her age. While there are a few clever bits to be found, such as Kabungo thinking her family tree is an actual tree, young readers would be better served reading Maryrose Wood's series "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place" (HarperCollins) if they are interested in stories about feral children. VERDICT Without credible characterization or proper exposition, the cave girl gimmick gets old fast.-Laura J. Giunta, Garden City Public Library, NY

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