This is an African tale in a range of stories under a banner of Folk Tales of the World. It’s a lovely story which reminded me of reading things like Aesops Fables when I was little. It’s a kids story with a moral where once again the slow and steady tortoise wins the day much like in The Hare and The Tortoise. It wouldn’t surprise me if it actually was a variation on that story though which came first I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess.
Anyway the story is about how Tortoise has a dream about a mythical tree called the Omombo-Rombonga tree which has all the fruits of the earth and the story is about which animal will be clever enough to find it.
The story is a good one to read aloud with kids as it uses lots of repetition so kids will very quickly be able to join in with the key phrases in the book.
We have had this book on our library shelves for a while and have recently revisited it because my daughter is learning about Africa and they had the story at school so it is now our current bedtime favourite and explained why my daughter came home from school banging on about millet and yams so much (millet and yams are two of the fruits on the Omombo-Rombonga tree if you haven’t read the book!) ( )

This book is a great example of a myth because it is a story belongs to a culture/region in Africa that explores creation of the different kinds of fruit trees that we have.
Media Used: Water Color
Age Appropriateness: Primary and Intermediate ( )