Bullying target turns school hero

Illustrated book tells riverting story in two languages with speech and thought bubbles

COVER2COVER books have published a 48-page story book,

Halala Winner!, targeted at Grade 4 kids. The writer is Jabulani Kunye.

In the story, Sibulele – an endearing boy with a big heart – starts at a new school. He is teased for sounding different and because he comes from out of town. The “Funky Boys” turn up the heat demanding that he brings lunch for them each day. He is sad but, with the help of his friend Anele, sticks it out. In the end, an opportunity arises where he can show one of his skills and through it, rescue another schoolboy. He is carried shoulder high by other learners, and indications are that he will no longer be an easy target for the bully boys.

This is more than an illustrated story. Using a cartoon style of drawing, it is a picture book complete with speech bubbles, thought balloons and some exaggerated action shots. The fact that the drawings so closely track the “action” helps the reader understand unfamiliar words. In addition, the the action and the plot carry the reader forward, providing a context in which the reader can figure out what new words mean.

Halala Winner! shows it can be done: it is possible to deploy a mix of languages (in the same text) to tell great kids’ stories. With it, Cover2Cover seems to be testing the waters – seeing how the idea is received by wider audiences.

According to the publisher’s notes, Halala is part of a series

(titled My World, My Words) that “celebrate(s) the multilingual realities of most South Africans.”

Cover2Cover says the stories are developed with the input of young people. It refers the way it uses languages in these children’s books as translanguaging, a good term for academics but an awful term for the rest of us. We can look forward to more entertaining stories in the series.