The Magic Tree: A Folktale from Nigeria

by T. Obinkaram Echewa, E.B. Lewis (Illustrator)

Children will cheer for Mbi, an orphan boy who lives in a Nigerian village, when he teaches the villagers a lesson they'll never forget. Overworked and mistreated, Mbi gets only scraps when it's time to eat. Then one day a magical fruit tree grows just for him, and, using his wits, Mbi makes sure that he'll never be treated badly again. Nigerian-born author T. Obinkaram Echewa's accomplished story telling and E.B. Lewis's evocative paintings give this engaging tale timeless appeal.

Genres: Picture Books, Nigeria, Childrens, Africa, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Thomas Obinkaram Echewa is an Igbo Nigerian author of literary and children's fiction.

Reviews

[Mariah Cordova · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. This book would be good to share many different life lessons as well as show how Nigerian culture is different from our culture. Reading this book the first thing that I noticed was that Mbi, a little boy who lived with his relatives in a village, was a very hard working boy. Among all of his relatives, he did not get to play with the other kids and did not get to eat with anyone. After I read this book I viewed the term relatives and neighbors in Nigeria compared to actual family. Looking further into this term. Many relatives live together in the same village but their immediate family comes before all other family and because they do not have the same resources in the location and time, they didn’t have much to share.
The lessons I think this book portrays well is hard work pays off, you should always share, don’t steal. Reading this book I saw all of these lessons throughout the book. Mbi was a boy who always worked for everyone. He would work all day long and got nothing in return. One day he finds a tree that produces fruit when he asks. It’s like he got the tree because he worked hard. Once people saw his magic tree he let others eat from it. Sharing made him happy and helped him work less. A boy climbed the tree to steal fruit. Mbi made the tree grow into the clouds and the boy got stuck. These are all lessons are all good for children to hear over and over and sharing the message in different ways is always a good idea

The illustrations in this book looked like watercolor paintings. I like how there was not a lot of detail in this book. Even though there is not a lot of detail it shows how people in Nigeria live and dress. If I were to use this book for history I would point out the houses, clothing, and bedding. This book was fun to read and had a lot of deeper meaning. It showed a different culture and it was a creative story that gave Mbi a magic tree. I will most defiantly use this book in my classroom.

[Allison Tubaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: traditional literature(folktale)
Grades: 2-5

This is a book about a young boy ima village in Nigeria who people treated very poorly and made him do everything. One day he had enough and needed a break so he went to suit under a tree away from others. He bit into a piece of fruit and that kind of changed his life. To see what happens after Mbi bites into the fruit you should read the book.

[Ashley Kempkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually liked this book, even though I thought it was odd. I don't know exactly what the moral is supposed to be. I would guess: Don't treat people badly, or, if you have something that someone else wants, you can make them respect you when you give it to them.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mbi, an orphan boy, is constantly asked to “do this” and “do that” by his many unkind relatives until a special tree grows, just for him.

[Brooklyn Sr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for kids. Picked up from library for 25 cents for my daughter. Teaches lesson not to be mean to others

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade Level-2-6
Genre-Folktale

This book is about Mbi, an orphan boy who lives with relatives in Nigeria. Mbi never gets any time to play or be a kid because he is always working. One day when he is feeling hungry he goes and sits under the udara tree. Soon a large ripe fruit falls from the tree. He decides to plant the seeds. To get it to grow all he has to do is sing to it. Anything that Mbi thinks or wants he gets. He wishes that he could pick the fruit without having to climb the tree and so the branches bend down so that he can reach them. Mbi becomes popular among other people in the village because all he has to do is sing so that fruit will fall from the tree. When a mean boy climbs the tree to steal fruit, Mbi tells the tree to grow so that he cannot get down. Everyone agrees to be kinder to him, feed him, and cloth him if he would get the boy down, so he decides to help.

Activity 1: I would have other cultural folktale books available about Nigeria and other countries. I would use this book and others as the basis for a discussion on the characteristics of a folktale. As a class, students could brainstorm ideas on what makes a story a folktale and the teacher could write them on the board. Examples of characteristics are that the main character is isolated, the story has something that cannot happen in real life, and the story attempts to explain something about the real world. This would be an after reading activity.

Activity 2: Another activity that could be done with this book is to have students cut out pictures from magazines that reflect characters or events in the book. They could make their pictures into a collage. Examples of things that students could cut out are trees, fruit, children, coins, children playing, or music notes since he sang to the tree. Encourage students to share why they cut out a certain picture and included it in their collage.

[Ayanle]

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[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Nigerian folktale centers around an orphan boy who is excluded from the families in his village until they need him to do some work. After planting magic seeds from a fruit he eats, a tree miraculously springs up that provides its fruit only to him. Will he be accepted by the villagers now? Will he forgive them for their past mistreatment of them? I felt that something was missing from this story; it needed something of the boy's internal moral dilemma. Aside from that, it was a good story.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why, but I found this book highly irritating. I didn't like anything about it not even the message re: child abuse/resolution of it. There are many a better folktale book out there. Find one of those.

[Valarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is decently written, but the folktale sends a horrible message: be cruel to your enemies and they will have to be nicer to you out of fear.

[Daniel Franklin]

I like this story because it was a story young children could understand, but incorporated elements of culture through words, pictures, and storyline.

The illustrations in this book are so unique because of watercolor, but also the detail.