Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book Book

While Muriel and Tom Feelings' Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book is of course presented and appears in a traditional abcedarian format (but minus the letters Q and X, as they do not exist in the Swahili language), this is most definitely NOT a book meant to be used with and for young children first learning and practicing their letters, as no, Yambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book seems to be first and foremost conceptialised to introduce children, and not really toddlers either, to twenty-four Swahili words (for the most part various nouns and a few common expressions which are also presented with an appreciated pronunciation guide, as well as relevant cultural information and details, such as the roles played by mothers, fathers and children, the importance of respect for ones' elders, farming practices and so on and so on).

And while for the most part, I have indeed very much enjoyed the cultural information author Muriel Feelings presents and features, as someone who has always been very much interested in and intrigued by the various and different languages of the world, I really do wish that since in the introduction, the author makes a point of declaring that Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book is meant to introduce Swahili words in particular, is meant to introduce Swahili as a language, as probably the most common and widespread language of Africa, that at least one part of the information shown in the different letter sections, on the specific and individual words, had been about their various linguistic backgrounds, had been with regard to the specifics of the Swahili language as a linguistic construct. And sadly and indeed, not really ever having this included, this does at least for me kind of lessen the language teaching and learning potential of Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book, as the words uttered and used in a given language have both cultural and language-based grammatical, syntax and the like significance, and both are (at least in my opinion) of equal and the same importance (for example, the Swahili word shown in Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book for school, shule, is both pronounced and spelled almost exactly like the German word for school, Schule and it indeed would have been a wonderful linguistic addition for the author, for Muriel Feelings to have investigated and shown if there are indeed linguistic and perhaps historic correspondences here).

And finally, while I have both appreciated and definitely much enjoyed the detailed and informative author's introduction of Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book, there are nevertheless two rather problematic and yes much annoying bones of contention for me. Firstly, Muriel Feelings absolutely should have included a bibliographical list of books for further reading and study, both on East African culture AND on Swahili as a language (perhaps even a few detailed grammar and syntax tomes for those of us interested in how Swahili actually works as a language, what its grammatical rules are and such). And secondly (and here I am in fact somewhat majorly personally annoyed and frustrated), why does the author, why does Muriel Feelings make the claim that Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book is primarily for children of African ancestry to discover the Swahili language? Nothing wrong with this in and of itself, I guess, but discovering and studying global languages, including the diverse languages of Africa, is something for EVERYONE AND ANYONE, and for the author to categorically make a statement, to pontificate that Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book should mostly be for children of African origin and ancestry, well, as someone who loves languages and is interested in diversity, culture and promoting the learning of as many different world languages as possible, I for one, have felt rather taken aback if not even a bit insulted.

Now with regard to Tom Feelings accompanying Caldecott Honour winning illustrations, while they are truly and indeed expressive and detailed (and give an appreciated realistically imaginative visual portrait and representation of East African culture), I do wish that the colour schemes used had not just been various shades of blacks, whites and browns (that they had also included reds, yellows, greens and blues). For while I have been both willing and very much able to appreciate and even rather enjoy the illustrations (and have truly found the information on how Tom Feelings' art was created of much interest), for my own aesthetic tastes (for my own eyes), there is simply not enough colour and thus not enough liveliness and brightness to consider Feelings' pictorial renderings as in any way personal favourites (although I do agree that they are adept, descriptively bold and provide a both adequate and even lovely complement to Muriel Feelings' verbal descriptions and explanations of the twenty-four Swahili words presented in Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book).