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Reviewer: MUNYAL MARKUS MANUNYI
Genre: Prose
Category: Children literature
Juanita Betts is highly commended for her ability to pinpoint the right button that best suits the juveniles and set them off on the boat of excitement while reading her book, My Mama Said. The book is a collection of beautiful short stories put together, but my most favourite story in the book is titled: Pretty Little Black Girl. As a black American living in the USA Juanita knows how it feels to look different from the rest of the skin colours she mingles with daily. But in order to be on the positive side of life, she unravels this mystery by writing about Lisa and her friends Tanya and Jenna. Lisa’s inferiority complex couldn’t allow her to be proud of her beautiful black skin, but instead she secretly resorted to applying different skin toning body creams to make her skin look brighter. Well, the whole drama started unfolding when her two friends Tanya and Jenna discovered this. At first they first were disappointed in her, but gradually bravery took the better part of them when instead of criticising they encouraged her to make her feel proud of her beautiful black colour which was her mark of identity. The thread of the other stories continued by drawing the attention of readers to some instances where children benefited from the urban knowledge shared by either their parents, or their peers as they shuffled their ways daily towards balancing between conflicting interests. The interest to pursue youthful zest always counteracted with the voice of reasoning resounding through ‘my mama said’. It was a usual occurrence in the book to hear a teenager caution his fellow to desist from any dangerous act because ‘my mama said’ it is bad or dangerous, etc. Mothers seemed to be idolised as role models to their kids in most parts of the book. Their ‘do(s) and don’t(s) always rang as a warning bell in their children’s ears.
However, of Paramount importance in the book is the use of moral lessons which kept popping up at the end of each story, cautioning children to refrain from evil and misconducts. In essence most parents I believe will love seeing their kids deeply engrossed in this book benefitting from its rich content.
Biography of reviewer
Munyal Markus Manunyi is from Nigeria. She is the founder of International African Writers Association – IAWA. She has published three books titled: The Tightrope (a novel) , The Vigilante Girl and other stories (children literature) and A New Dawn In Africa – songs of an African child (poetry book). She still has about nine other unpublished works on ground.
Munyal is married and has four wonderful children.
This review by Munyal Markus Manunyi who is a young talented writer from Nigeria as the founder of International African Writers Association – IAWA with three published books titled: The Tightrope (a novel) , The Vigilante Girl and other stories (children literature) and A New Dawn In Africa – songs of an African child (poetry book). Her review of my book is so on point. I hope this will enlighten parents, libraries, and schools to introduce this book for learning purposes because street knowledge is quite appropriate for our children. I am gratefully thankful for this amazing review.