Gift of The Sun
   Dianne Steward,
   Illustrated by Jude Daly
  1996 Farrar Straus Giroux
   ISBN: 0374324255


In South Africa Thulani enjoys basking in the sun. Tired of milking his cow every day he sells it for a goat, still not satisfied he makes a few more barters until all he has left is a pocket full of sunflower seeds. Even though the seeds are no good for eating they prove to be surprisingly useful & before long Thulani & his wife reap a fine harvest.

Jude Daly's beautiful images of contemporary rural life in South Africa & Dianne Steward tell a charming parable about the more we resist work the more it haunts us.

From goat to sheep to geese Thulani tries to simplify the labor of his life until the only living things left at the store are sunflower seeds.

While Dora tends the fields of green shoots & grumbles, Thulani sleeps in the sun until one day the sunflower heads drop their seeds & he decides to feed them to the hens.

After that, wonderful things begin to happen & Dora is again happy & so too at last, is Thulani.

Lovely story & pictures, a treasure! Great gift material.

Both Dianne & Jude live in South Africa & both have several award winning books printed there in English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa languages.
(07/16/00)

Rebecca