Polly Alakija

Summary: Ayoka, a young Yoruba girl in Nigeria, is placed in charge of the family goat. Immediately after her mother leaves the house, the goat goes missing. As Ayoka searches throughout the marketplace, she talks to the people on the street selling different things. Each person she asks and approaches has not seen the goat but they are also missing one of what they are selling. As Ayoka finally reaches home, her mother asks her if she has seen the goat, and Ayoka replies with despair. Her mother tells her to go inside. What will Ayoka find when she enters the house?
Teaching Implications: Catch that Goat! Is a wonderful tale about a girl missing a goat, but as she travels throughout the marketplace, each person she comes across has a different number of objects they are selling. The first person has ten boli’s, the second has nine loaves of bread, the third has eight paint pots. Each page, the people have one less number of the objects they are selling. This could be used to teach the students counting, subtraction, and addition.
The pages in the book are covered from top to bottom with illustrations done in watercolor on mixed medium. Each page contains a plethora of things to learn about the Yoruba culture. The illustrations are visually stimulating and every time you read the book, you find something new in the pictures.
At the end of the book, there are seven pages dedicated to explaining the Yoruba culture including: Yoruba people, dress, language, everyday life, the marketplace, and where Nigeria is. This book could also be used to teach about a different culture as a part of a unit on Africa or on walking in the shoes of someone from a different place in the world.… (mais)