There’s something very important that you can’t find, even though you’ve searched everywhere. You don’t know what to do.
In “Kay Kay’s Alphabet Safari” by Dana Sullivan kids learn that what they’re looking for might be right under their nose!
It was a beautiful, sunny day, and Kay Kay strolled past Bungoma’s new village school, where he heard the children call his name. They were proud of their new classroom, and they wanted him to see it.
Kay Kay looked around the classroom and saw brand-new desks and plain white walls that practically begged to be painted. Kay Kay told the children that he would paint animals “A” to “Z” on the wall.
But which ones?
Kay Kay thought best when he was moving, so he used his feet and his brain to go to the countryside. There, he met Ant, but there’d be no chatting, because Kay Kay was deep in thought.
A few feet down the path, Baboon and his friends wanted to dance, but Kay Kay couldn’t take even a minute for that.
Fox was having a tea party not far away, but Kay Kay didn’t have time for tea. There’d be no games with Leopard, and absolutely no jokes or riddles with Porcupine. Snake could daydream on his own and Warthog would have to run around with his friends by himself. This animal A to Z stuff was very, very hard!
Suddenly, it hit him! The answer was right in front of him! But, of course, there was one animal missing: what could he paint on the wall that starts with a “K”?
Based loosely on a true story of a talented Kenyan taxi driver and the “very real” Star of Hope School, “Kay Kay’s Alphabet Safari” is a cute A-B-C book based on animals.
Author-illustrator Sullivan adds a nice surprise for slightly older kids, too: in the back of this book, you’ll find a behind-the-scenes story of how this book came to be. If they’re up for more, your kids can also learn to say a few words and funny phrases in Swahili.
Find this book for 2-to-4-year-olds, share it with 5-to-6-year-olds, and you won’t be sorry.
“Kay Kay’s Alphabet Safari,” by Dana Sullivan [40 pages, 2014, $15.99].
Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old, and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill with two dogs and 12,000 books.
