Review by Esamae, St. Peter's CE Primary, Heysham
I liked the African Folktale Why the Tortoise is Bald because it made me laugh but it also had a moral. The main character is called Ijapa, he is a trickster and was always getting up to mischief.

The plot was exiting, especially the part when Ijapa had to run home with the porridge under his hat! My favourite character was Yannibo who was engaged to marry Ijapa, I liked the illustration of her character.

I really liked the ending because I discovered that Ijapa had gone bald because of the hot porridge on his head. This tale helps us to think about not being impatient or greedy. 

I also thought it was a great idea to include activities such as word searches at the back of the book, it made me think a bit more about the tale and the characters in it.

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

Review by Murray, Mordiford Primary School Hereford
This book is set in Africa. It tells us all about African culture and family life. All of the stories have morals, such as don’t be greedy, or be patient – all lessons learned by Ijapa! For example, he learnt a huge lesson when the scorching hot yam porridge burnt his hair off! The main character is Ijapa (a friendly tortoise) and his fiancée Yannibo. Ijapa needs to meet Yannibo’s parents and want to make a good impressions, so he is a bit nervous!

All the characters in this book are so kind and friendly, and it was lovely when Yannibo’s mum gave Ijapa a great welcome. The story is told in a comic style which I liked, and the fantastic pictures kept me guessing about what was going to happen next.

I would recommend this book to my friends because they would love the parts about Ijapa being a trickster.

There are puzzles in this book, too – I particularly liked the word searches.