Category: Children Publisher: Blueflower Books
Type: Fiction
Pages: 48
Copyright: January 2007
Nneka, The Hunchback is a full colour illustrated story book with read along audio disc that recreates the traditional story telling format of African nights in combination with modern prose forms.
The storybook is a simple story set in the context of African folk tales. It tells the story of a young girl who receives love to overcome her handicap but suffers a relapse because of her undue attention to peer pressure, societal expectations and the cares of the world.
Long, long ago, there lived a beautiful girl in an African village. Her name was Nneka. Though she was beautiful, Nneka had a hunchback.
As she grew older, Nneka observed that most of the men in the village ignored her because of her hunchback. This made her very sad. She was suspicious of every one because she did not know who truly liked her or who just wanted to make fun of her.
Nneka prayed to God every day for healing. One day, as she prayed, she promised God that she would always worship Him if he healed her. She said she would love people and never make fun of any body the way they did to her.
There was a man in the village who had long admired Nneka. Onyechi was a humble farmer. One day, on her way back from the stream, Onyechi followed her.
“Nneka, Nneka”, he called, running to meet up with her.
Nneka stopped to see who it was. On seeing Onyechi, she asked him what he wanted, for it was rare for any young man to ask her anything.
“Well”, Onyechi replied, “I have been watching you for sometime now. You are so beautiful and well behaved. I would like to marry you”.
Nneka was surprised! Could this be true? No man had said a nice word to her before. Here was Onyechi proposing to make her a wife. Nneka, a wife? All her age mates had married long ago. She had prayed for someone to come for her but it never happened.
Nneka was very upset because she believed Onyechi just wanted to make fun of her. “If you don’t mind”, she retorted, turning away. “I don’t like such jokes”.
“But I am not joking,” Onyechi exclaimed. “I am truly serious. I am going to inform my relatives to come and discuss with your parents. Be expecting us”, he finished and rushed off to his home.
“Could this be true”, Nneka thought to herself. “I will just have to wait and see.”
* * * * * * ***
Onyechi was truly serious. Several days later, his parents and relations brought palm wine to meet with Nneka’s parents. Her father was very happy when they told him the purpose of their visit. He had prayed for so long for a man to marry his daughter.
“Nneka, my daughter”, he called out to her. “Come and kneel before me. I am so happy and I thank God for keeping me alive to see my daughter marry. I know Onyechi. He is a good man and I pray both of you will be happy together.” Onyechi’s relations were very happy their proposal was accepted.
Soon after, Onyechi and Nneka held their wedding.
Shortly after they married, God answered Nneka’s prayers and healed her. The hunchback she had been carrying all her life disappeared. She was very happy. Her husband, too, was very happy.
Excerpt
The next day, Onyechi called her. “We are going to see your parents”, he said. He carried a jar of palm wine with him, just as the elders had done when they were coming to marry her. Nneka understood then what Onyechi planned to do. She cried even more.
Professional Reviews
New Books: Nneka, The Hunchback Debuts
New Books: Nneka, The Hunchback debuts
By HENRY AKUBUIRO (akuhen@sunnewsonline.com)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
•Osundare
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
A new children's story book, Nneka, The Hunchback, by Chinyere Nwakanma, the wife of former Vanguard arts editor, Obi Nwakanma, is the first in a series by the writer planned to give a modern makeover to African folk tales and bring them to the modern age.
Nneka, The Hunchback is a full colour illustrated story book with read along audio disc that recreates the traditional story telling format of African nights in combination with modern prose forms.
The storybook is a simple story set in the context of African folk tales. It tells the story of a young girl who receives love to overcome her handicap but suffers a relapse because of her undue attention to peer pressure, societal expectations and the cares of the world.
The book is written in panels with illustrations for every panel. Nneka, The Hunchback's colourful illustrations are evocative and similar in quality to the famous Ladybird stories series.Christian moral undertone is strong and evident in the book.
According to Blueflower Books Limited, the publisher, "The book is written in Standard English usage. It has high readability, 78.5% on the Flesch scale and 4.7 on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level. The book is thus suitable for pupils and students from Primary Class Five through JS 2 and above. It can serve as an instructional book in school or for family leisure reading."
To recapture the oral medium of traditional way of telling folktales in Africa, Blueflower Books has packaged an audio rendition of the story in the traditional format, which is attached to the book. The book is on sale in major bookshops in Lagos.
The author, Augusta Chinyere Nwakanma, is an artist, designer, a teen church pastor, and marketing professional. She is also a writer and bibliophile.
New Books: Nneka, The Hunchback debuts
By HENRY AKUBUIRO (akuhen@sunnewsonline.com)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
•Osundare
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
A new children's story book, Nneka, The Hunchback, by Chinyere Nwakanma, the wife of former Vanguard arts editor, Obi Nwakanma, is the first in a series by the writer planned to give a modern makeover to African folk tales and bring them to the modern age.
Nneka, The Hunchback is a full colour illustrated story book with read along audio disc that recreates the traditional story telling format of African nights in combination with modern prose forms.
The storybook is a simple story set in the context of African folk tales. It tells the story of a young girl who receives love to overcome her handicap but suffers a relapse because of her undue attention to peer pressure, societal expectations and the cares of the world.
The book is written in panels with illustrations for every panel. Nneka, The Hunchback's colourful illustrations are evocative and similar in quality to the famous Ladybird stories series.Christian moral undertone is strong and evident in the book.
According to Blueflower Books Limited, the publisher, "The book is written in Standard English usage. It has high readability, 78.5% on the Flesch scale and 4.7 on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level. The book is thus suitable for pupils and students from Primary Class Five through JS 2 and above. It can serve as an instructional book in school or for family leisure reading."
To recapture the oral medium of traditional way of telling folktales in Africa, Blueflower Books has packaged an audio rendition of the story in the traditional format, which is attached to the book. The book is on sale in major bookshops in Lagos.
The author, Augusta Chinyere Nwakanma, is an artist, designer, a teen church pastor, and marketing professional. She is also a writer and bibliophile.
Obedience or Sacrifice?
Thisday, The Sunday Newspaper, June 24, 2007
Obedience or Sacrifice?
Nneka The Hunchback, Chinyeremma Nwakanma, Blueflower Books, Lagos 2007-06-29
The setting for the simple story titled Nneka The Hunchback is an African village. The main character in the story is Nneka, a beautiful maiden whose beauty is overshadowed by her hunchback. This physical blemish makes her the target of cruel jokes and invectives by other members of her village. The result is a lady who is sad, suspicious and wary of all comers. Despite her anomaly, she constantly prays to the Almighty for a miracle.
On her return from the stream on a certain day, her introspection is broken by Onyechi, a humble farmer who proposes marriage. She is surprised, though most of her mates are married, but this soon gives way to her suspicious state of mind. Her invidious comments do little to discourage Onyechi nor diminish his resolve and he leaves her promising to visit soon with his parents and ask for her hand formally.
He returns, much to her surprise, with his parents and a keg of palmwine. Nneka’s father is overjoyed having thought he would never witness her marriage and grateful to God that she found someone to marry her despite her handicap. Their proposal is quickly accepted and the wedding proper soon follows with the whole village in attendance. Shortly after, Nneka’s hump disappears, thereby multiplying her joy and that of her husband. …
The story book is a laudable work that teaches virtues and norms by telling a simple story on loyalty and why obedience is far better than sacrifice. The first in a series of works planed to give a modern make over to the way African stories are told, the full colour story book contains a 12-minute read along audio CD, full illustrations and suggestive drawings on each page. These recreate the oral tradition of African nights to suit a modern audience, bring the book alive and reinforce the story telling format.
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