Shaka, King of the Zulus


Title- Shaka, King of the Zulus
Author/Retold- Diane Stanley, Peter Vennema
Illustrated by Diane Stanley 
Genre- nonfiction/biography 
Grade level- 3rd through 7th grade

The story starts off with the legendary king Shaka as a child. He liked to watch the cattle in the field. One day, a wild dog came and killed one of the sheep while Shaka was on duty. His father was very angry. Her mother stood up to protect her son and his mother was outcasted from the tribe. From that point on the children would make fun of Shaka and his mother would comfort him. Then a great famine came across the land. His mother and himself settled in another tribe. He found new friends in this new tribe and he grew up strong. He even killed a leopard and the tribe praised him. Shaka begin to train as a warrior and Shaka helped to develop a new weapon. Shaka used his weapon when he fought as a champion for his tribe and won. Shaka began to his own men into battle and the leader of his tribe made Shaka the new chief of the Zulus and he started to train his big army. One day, the Great one was killed by another tribe and they’re wanted to take his tribe, but Shaka stood in his way and he defeated them with great cunning. European started to arrive in Africa and the Europeans through they would find small tribes, but instead they found ginormous ones. Henry Francis Fynn heard of Shaka and he wanted to meet him. Fynn met him and was terrified by the amount of soliders he had. Shaka was friendly to them and showed them his tribe. A spy from a rival tribe stabbed Shaka while he was giving the tour. The Fynn bandaged up Shaka and helped him live. He made friends with the British. While elephant hunting, Shaka got word that his mother was dying. He began to mourn and he said that the whole land must mourn and not cultivate the land. Soon they were in a drought and had no food, and he didn’t want anymore to die so he let them harvest again. His half brothers wanted him dead, so they assassinated him. His legacy remains though because he brought this small tribe from almost nothing, to become one of the greatest tribes in African History. 

This is an amazing story of perseverance and strength even if it’s hard. Shaka has humble beginnings and was picked on but is perseverance and loyalty are amazing qualities. I think that is at a reading level for 5-7th grade but I would use this book as a reference and topic starter for students in 8th grade and higher.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Ant

Image
  Title- The Little ant  Author/Retold- Shirleyann Costigan, based one Aida Marcuse version Illustrated by Patti Boyd Photgraphed by Scott Campbell  Genre- Traditional Literature  Grade level- 1st-4th Grade Our story begins with an ant named Hormiguita. Hormiguita’s house got drenched by April showers. She asked the sun dry her home, but she couldn’t cause the clouds were in the way. Hormiguita asked the clouds to move so the sun could dry her house. The cloud said he can’t but she could ask the wind to blow the cloud away. So she asked the wind, but the wind said he no, he was going to be sleeping the whole day. So Hormiguita began to sing a lullaby to the wind and the wind started to fall into a deep sleep. Hormiguita began to climb up the winds beard and she took a feather and tickled his nose. This caused him to sneeze, which blew away the clouds, which let the sun dry Hormiguita’s house. This is a great book that teaches us how to have manners and taught a lesson on how to be kind
Read more

All Together

Image
Title- All Together, A Child’s Treasury of verse Author/Retold- Dorothy Aldis Illustrated by Helen D. Jameson Genre- poetry  Grade level- 1st graders to 12th graders All Together, A Child’s Treasury of verse is a collection of poems. The poem “Mouths” is about a child who she had two mouths, one to eat with and one to talk with. The child thinks that all the time mouths just wanna talk, but what they want is to chew. “Supper for a Lion” starts off with a lion in a cage walking back and forth. The lion thinks it’s time to eat. The child asks if the Lion wants stew or a bone. She tells the Lion to stop looking at her as if she would taste good.  I think this book is great for all ages. There are some poems that are very simple to understand, but enjoyable for younger children. There are others that are complex in nature and older English students can try to derive what that poem means to them. I would personally use this book as discussion piece exercise for older students. I would read
Read more

Chicken Little

Image
  Title- Chicken Little Author/Retold- Steven Kellogg Illustrated by Steven Kellogg Genre- Fantasy/Science Fiction Grade level- 1st - 4th Grade The story begins with a fox named, “Foxy Loxy” in a car. He spots a chicken and he’s getting ready to capture the chicken and eat it. An acorn hits the chicken and “Chicken Little” says the sky is falling. The chicken starts to wail and a chicken, a duck, a goose and her child, and a turkey come to help because they hear all the commotion. The fox is getting more and more excited because he sees so many things he could eat for dinner. The fox dresses up as a cop and arrives on the scene with his “police” truck and tells all the animals to get in the truck and he’ll take them to police headquarters. As they are getting in the truck, Chicken Little realizes that the fox is the infamous “Foxy Loxy” who is wanted by the police, but it was too late. The fox started to gloat at his prisoners and he tells them it wasn’t the sky that fell, but an acorn
Read more