Spirit of the Cheetah is the story of Roblay, a Somali boy who strives to “prove I am a man” by placing in a big race. Roblay is always running everywhere to the bemusement of his family and friends, but despite this he is unsuccessful in his first attempt. His grandfather, Awoowo, tells him he must put his thumbprint on the coat of a cheetah in order to succeed. Roblay spends many days observing a cheetah by the river Shebelle. By observing, Roblay learns traits that will help him in his quest.
The basics of the plot - a young athlete who must learn about himself in order to achieve his goals - is a familiar one, especially for children’s literature, and the story plays out in a familiar way. Nevertheless there are a few distinct beats in the story that are a little unexpected and make the story interesting. The overall goal of the plot - Roblay must finish in the top three of the race - is also interesting in that winning outright isn’t the goal. In fact, no one seems too concerned about whether he will win or not. This is somewhat refreshing, since it isn’t focused on strict competition, and instead Roblay works on self-improvement.
On the other hand, the lessons Roblay learns from the cheetah are pretty general and it is not obvious how they specifically pertain to running or the race. Roblay observes the cheetah, trying to figure out how to put his thumbprint on the animal’s coat as his grandfather instructed him. As he watches, he learns about the traits of the cheetah and how they will help him, but this part would have been helped by more illustrative action. Roblay watches the cheetah, and we are told what he learns, but actually seeing some more of the action might have been more effective in imparting the story. The big race itself is barely described, so it’s not obvious how Roblay’s lessons help him improve over the previous year. Even in the slower sections, however, the illustrations are compelling and the background details allow the reader to be absorbed. Sometimes the background is more interesting than the main action.
Spirit of the Cheetah is not an essential book, but it provides an interesting and slightly different spin on familiar children’s book dynamics. While the main focus of the book is the race, that story falls a little flat, and instead it is the cultural touches that give Spirit of the Cheetah its most interesting aspects. ( )