In Under the Baobab Tree, Julie Stiegemeyer takes children to an African village where locals gather each day under a mammoth "tree of life" to conduct business, tell stories, gather news, and also study the word of God. Moyo and his younger sister Japera know that the Baobab tree is hundreds of years old. Its branches provide fruit that people and animals (especially elephants) love to eat. Its trunk provides shelter from rain and wind. Its leaves provide shade and coolness.
Moyo and Japera have to walk a few miles from their home in order to reach the village. Along the way they observe the unique animals of their homeland, including termites that can build a tower ten feet high and weaverbirds that can build nests in the highest branches of the acacia trees. Once at the village, the children go to the baobab tree and decide that it is so huge, ten children holding hands and linked around it couldn't span the trunk. When a pastor steps forward, all the people begin to sing hymns and to rejoice at hearing the Bible preached.
The paintings by award-winning artist E. B. Lewis emphasize contrasts, such as the black inside of a village hut set atop the bright red soil of the arid terrain. When traveling tradesmen bring their goods to market, their clay pots, baskets of flowers, and bolts of fabric are multi-colored and captivating.
This little book shares elements of geography, theology, and sociology on a level youngsters can understand and be captivated by. – Dr. Dennis E. Hensley, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com
Moyo and Japera travel down the red dusty road to the next village. There, they will gather under the baobab tree, the Tree of Life. Moyo knows that some days the market wagon stops under the baobab tree. Villagers buy brightly colored cloth and heavy pots and pans. But who will gather today under the baobab tree? Come to a special place—a wondrous gathering place known as the baobab tree, the Tree of Life. Moyo and Japera know that almost anything can happen here. But today? Today the most important and truest stories of all will be told. People will come to hear, to pray, and to sing. And as the children journey to the tree they have only one question: Who will gather under the boabab tree? …Will you?