It's all very well helping a young meerkat who's been poisoned by a scorpion. But when you've made friends with the whole Duwara tribe of meerkats, and you discover that they're at war with the Utongo, you may find yourself involved in that too, even if you're only a little black-and-white cat. And when you realize that the two tribes are fighting because each one believes it lives under The One True Sun, then you may have to undertake a very dangerous journey to help them see things differently. You may have to go through The Gorge.
About the author:
H. S. Toshack has lived and worked as an English teacher and educational consultant in the UK, the Caribbean, Africa, Thailand and the Middle East. He now lives and writes in Portugal...and travels, still.
His Paka Mdogo stories are set in Africa, but they are coloured by his experience of people, and lives lived, in all of those other places; and he intends to take his cat heroine Sheena, in future books, to some of them (perhaps Thailand next).
'Or rather,' he says, 'I'll let her take me. She led me through the first three books, after all. It was as if she was telling her stories through me. That's why I've put her portrait alongside my photo. She's my co-author.'
All three books are published in the UK, and 'The Meerkat Wars' has just been launched in the US.
A link to a recent review of the series: http://januarymagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/childrens-books-meerkat-wars-by-hs.html
A link to the Paka Mdogo teaching and learning resources, which may be of interest to teachers and parents, and even young readers who want to think further, and write, about what they've read: http://www.litworks.com/childrens.php
A link to a list of H. S. Toshack's writing to date: http://www.jacketflap.com/hst
My Thoughts:
The Meerkat Wars is a story about an ordinary family pet (Sheena)that sneaks into the car when the family leave for vacation to the Baragandiri National Park, her third secret adventure). She ends up stranded in unfamiliar territory when she fails to sneak back into the Land Rover after the male human gathers wood. She comes across a tribe of Meerkats and the adventure begins. A delightful story for a parent to share with children and of course the older child will also enjoy this story. Love that the animals can speak and have varying personalities. I highly recommend it. The authors other books include
Paka Mdogo: Little Cat (Paka Mdogo Series) and The Gradual Elephant.
I received a copy of this book for review from The Cadence Group and was not monetarily compensated for my review.
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