Handa's Surprise - Eileen Browne

Advantages: Great multi-cultural book. Brightly illustrated
Disadvantages: None

...probably her most well-known is Handa's Surprise. ~ Handa's Surprise ~ Handa is an African girl who is part of a tribe in Kenya. At the beginning of the story Handa puts seven delicious fruits in a basket for her friend Akeyo. As she sets off for Akeyo's village with the fruit basket on her head, Handa wonders which fruit her friend will like best. 'Will she like the soft yellow banana..............' at this point, there is a picture of a monkey ...
...by an animal, native to Handa's part of the world. When there is nothing left in her basket, a goat breaks free of it's rope and hurtles in to a tangerine tree. The tangerines clatter down and Handa ends up with a basketful of tangerines. Still totally unaware of this, Handa arrives at her friend's village and tells Akeyo that she has a surprise for her. When she takes the basket down, it's actually Handa who gets a surprise as the 7 original fruits ... Read review

Advantages: brightly coloured, Multi-cultural and educational
Disadvantages: Simple tail perhaps not for older kids

...books but Eileen Browne include Handa's Hen, (the sequel to Handa's Surprise) Through the Window, Tick Tock and No Problem and Where's the Bus? What's Handa's Surprise About? Handa, a young girl from an African village decides to bring her friend Akeyo, who lives in a neighbouring village a surprise. She puts seven delicious fruits into a basket to take to her friend and sets off with the basket perched on top of her head, on the walk to her friend's ...
...will be Akeyo's favourite, Animals peek out of various hiding places to steal the pieces of fruit one by one without Handa noticing. We meet a monkey, ostrich zebra, elephant, giraffe, antelope and parrot along the way. As Handa gets closer to her friends' home and oblivious to the empty basket she is now carrying, Handa luckily crosses under a tangerine tree just as a goat charges the tree filling the basket with juicy tangerines. As she greets ... Read review

Advantages: Very colourful with plenty to talk about
Disadvantages: Story is quite basic

Handa's Surprise Like many people who work or live with children Eileen Browne thought that she would be able to write a successful children's book. After all, all you need to do is write a couple of lines per page, create an attractive central character and throw in some moral or life lesson and bob's your uncle, royalty cheques by the busload. The reality is somewhat different, and when something looks deceptively easy it's because it is anything ...
...well as an accomplished illustrator) and has now produced several very good books. Her publications include 'Through the Window', 'Tick Tock' and 'Where's that Bus?' but probably her most famous book, and certainly her most successful, is 'Handa's Surprise'. With many years educational experience behind her she had very clear ideas about the books she wanted to produce. She had expressed concern that characterisation in children's books was very ... Read review

Advantages: Lovely story set in Kenya
Disadvantages: none

Handa's Surprise-Eileen brown Handa's surprise is a really simple story set in Kenya. It is a great multicultural book that is often used in pre-school, nursery and early years settings. It introduces children to unfamiliar places with different animals, foods and ways of life through words and pictures. Handa put seven delicious fruits in a basket for her friend, Akeyo. She will be surprised thought Handa as she set off for Akeyo's village. I ...
...the sweet smelling guava? Handa's surprise is great to read in a group, children enjoy looking at the large colourful pictures and large text. At the back of the book are suggestions for useful and enjoyable ways of making the most of reading together: Describing food In the book, each fruit is described "soft yellow bananna", "round juicy orange" ...Children can take it in turns to chose a fruit or vegetable and describe it. Shops Children ... Read review