The Magic Tree by T. Obinkaram Echewa
I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I like the book because it talked about a story in Nigeria and it was interesting to read a story from a different country. It had descriptive words throughout the story, it also flowed. The characters were believable, but the main character ended up with powers to grow a tree within a day which humans are not able to do. The main character Mbi was well-developed, the story revolved around him. The book was in third person point of view. The illustrations did enhance the story, but if the author didn’t include illistartions it would have been hard to follow along with the story because of some of the words used in the story that we don’t see every day. The tory talks about an orphan child that no one helps but always asks Mbi the orphan to do all this work for them but when its time to eat or play no one is there for him. I think this is a story that pushes the reader to think about tough issues and broadens perspectives. ( )

This traditional Nigerian story tells the tale of an orphan boy who was to his village much like what Cinderella was to her stepmother and stepsisters. Forced to serve his village and receiving nothing but taunts and admonishments, Mbi has nothing. That is, until a magical tree grows out of the seed of an udara fruit he plants. The tree grows, bears fruit, and bends to Mbi's will. When a particularly cruel village boy climbs the tree to take the fruit, Mbi makes the tree grow so tall that the boy cannot get down. The village pleads to Mbi for mercy, asking his forgiveness, and promising to be kind to him.

This story teaches the lesson of kindness towards others. The village people took advantage of Mbi's powerlessness. The magic tree lends its power to Mbi so that he can help teach the village about not abusing the power.

I enjoyed this story. The language was simple, yet compelling. The watercolor illustrations were beautiful. Appropriate as a read-aloud for ages six and up. ( )

I absolutely loved this story, which reminded me a lot of Jack and the Beanstalk. The watercolor photos were beautiful throughout!