Don't Spill the Milk!

July 29, 2013
The creators of The Goggle-Eyed Goats set this warm story in West Africa, where Davies is a missionary. The rhythmic text and gouache folk art capture the vibrancy of life on the banks of the Niger River, which a girl named Penda crosses on her way to deliver a bowl of milk to her father, a herder watching over sheep in the grasslands. Corr’s pictures burst with electric colors as the girl crosses golden sand dunes, past “a caravan of camels and a flock of desert jinns,” and sees a ritual mask dance whose participants look like “a million dancing beasties.” Penda concentrates on carrying the bowl of milk on her head, ignoring the distractions, while the colloquial narrative cheers her on: “Don’t shiver, don’t quiver,/ don’t fall in the river, girl./ Keep it on your head,/ girl, milk don’t float.” When a mango falls from a tree, splashing milk from the bowl, Penda’s father reassures her—and readers—that her mission was a success. “This bowl was full of love, girl, and it still is.” Ages 4–9.

Starred review from August 1, 2013
Penda, a young Fulani girl from Niger, takes a long journey by herself to bring her shepherd father a nourishing bowl of milk. She travels through sand dunes, crosses a river, walks through the plains and treks up a mountain. She sees camels, desert jinns (are they imaginary?), masked dancers and the unusual pale giraffes of West Africa. She endures a smelly fishing boat. She admonishes herself not to spill a drop, telling herself, "Don't shiver, don't quiver, don't fall in the river, girl." That's why it's so sad when a final accident of fate upsets her plans for a successful end to her task, but her wise father has a different perspective. In an author's note, Davies explains that he has visited the region where the book is set from his home in Burkina Faso. He has worked with the artist in the past and wanted to give him an opportunity to picture the area's diverse geography. The intensity of the colors used in these gouache paintings will keep eyes riveted to the pages. The naive, flattened style emphasizes the colorful clothing, and a double-page spread in which Penda walks through a mass dance is quite striking. A satisfying story, perfect for reading aloud, set in a part of Africa that is rarely shown in children's books. (Picture book. 4-7)

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August 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 2-Penda's father is in the grasslands tending the sheep, and the child is taking him a bowl of milk for his lunch. Carefully she carries it on her head past a herd of giraffes, a lively rainy-season mask dance, and over the River Niger via fishing boat, without spilling a drop. When she finds her father sitting under a mango tree, a ripe fruit falls into the bowl and the milk splashes out. Penda is sad, but her father convinces her that all is well-"This bowl was full of love, girl, and it still is"-and they then share the fruit for lunch. This family story shines due to Corr's brightly painted folk-art illustrations. The village in Niger, the villagers, and Penda's journey are patterned with blocks of thick color, stripes, dots, swirls, and the feel of African sunshine. A warm, reassuring tale for storytimes and units on family.-Angela J. Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada

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