Review: Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

I picked this book up as I had heard some buzz about it and the author, Atinuke.  I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd like it; I just didn't think it would be for me.  However, once I started reading it, I fell in love with Anna Hibiscus!

 

Here is the summary from Amazon:

Anna Hibiscus lives in amazing Africa with her mother, her father, her baby twin brothers, and lots and lots of her family. Join her as she splashes in the sea, prepares for a party, sells oranges, and hopes to see sweet, sweet snow!

This book is an early chapter book, with short chapters, lots of pictures, and short stories within the book.  In another Anna Hibiscus book I read, its one continual story, so it just depends on the book in the series.  While this is a series, I don't think the books need to be read in order.

Anna Hibiscus lives with her very large family in Africa.  In addition to her parents and siblings, she lives with her grandparents, her aunties, uncles and cousins in a very large compound.  (It is explained later in the book that this is the traditional way in Africa). 

I like Anna because she has spunk and she finds herself in situations where, while the locale might be different, the situation is similar to readers in the US.   For instance---wanting snow.  She bugs her family to death wanting snow until finally she finds some ice shavings in the freezer and pretends.  I'm almost to that point myself---if I don't see some snow on my doorstep soon, I'm going to have to shave some ice from my freezer and pretend!

All in all, I loved the book, Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke.