Osa's Pride

by Ann Grifalconi

1990 LITTLE BROWN & COMPANY stapled-wraps SOFTCOVER

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Family

32 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

(September 22, 1929 – February 19, 2020) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born in New York, she studied art at the Cooper Union School of Art, where she received a certificate in advertising art in 1950.

Reviews

[Camilla Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about a girl named Osa who is taught a valuable lesson by her Grandma. Osa writes the book looking back at her younger self, when she admits she was very stubborn.
After she not believing her Papa is not coming back from the war, she begins to tell stories about her Papa to the children at school. The children begin to lose interest in Osa's stories and Osa herself. Osa tells herself she doesn't care and that eventually she'll leave just like her Papa. Osa's grandma notices Osa playing alone full of pride and decides to teach Osa a lesson by using some cloth she has been working on. The story on her cloth tells of a girl who has been carrying a basket overfilled with eggs to the market. The girl believes everyone admires her and doesn't realise the eggs are falling out behind her. She thinks people are following behind her because she is so beautiful, but she is too full of pride to realise they are they only see her eggs falling and are instead laughing at her. Grandma asks 0sa what she thinks will happen after the girl realises she has dropped all her eggs; Osa says the girl will learn that her stubborn pride made her blind to the truth. Osa learns that she has been acting the same as the girl in the story and that she is no better than anyone else ‘but she is no worse either!'.

I think this story is an appropriate story to read to a whole class, as it would be interesting to see what each child gets from the moral of the story, and to ask subsequent questions of the children. It would also be a good book for independent learning for a child to get a one on one connection with the story and characters.

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another story set in the same African village as Village of Round and Square Houses finds us returning to Osa when she learns a life lesson with regards to pride. Again, I thought this was well told with Gran'ma's little story about a girl who was vain and proud being beautifully told through the words and displayed through woven fabric and drawings. The key winning element of the book for me though is how well Grifalconi seems to have captured the tribes rural lifestyle (men and women living in different houses). I also noted here that Grifalconi is particularly interested in cross-cultural reading for young people and has lived and traveled in Africa and the Caribbean.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book uses engaging text and lush, colorful illustrations to celebrate the power of storytelling to teach lessons. Osa is a very stubborn and proud little girl. And while she loves telling everyone how smart and wonderful she is, she doesn't particularly care to listen to the stories and experiences of others. Gran'ma notices this behavior and the way the other children have left Osa to play by herself. Young readers will enjoy the colorful story cloth that Gran'ma uses to teach Osa an important lesson about foolish pride. I love the way The author uses Gran'ma and her cloth to tell a story within a story. This could serve as an awesome mentor text to have in my classroom library.

[Rebecca Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Text to Text- the book I Love You Because You're You. Both of the books have characters that are close with their mothers. Both of the characters mothers admire their child's personalities.
Text to Self- In the book the girls father fights in a war so she does not get to see him. I work with a girl whose dad is in the military and she is always counting down the days till she gets to see her dad again.
Text to World- Many kids deal with being raised by single parents or by grandparents. In this book the girls dad goes to war in Africa and she lives with her mother and grandmother. Children all around the world are in similar situations.

[Kristi]

A story about a little girl, Osa, in a small village who never met her father. She would always make up stories about him until people would tell her that she is wrong. One day her grandmother showed a traditional story cloth about a vein and prideful girl who did not listen to anyone, showing Osa that she is not better than any of her peers.
I would use this book when teaching about different traditions, cultures, and lessons that would come with that.

[Brianna Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very heart-warming book about a grandmother who is telling her granddaughter a story about what is important in life and how it is looked down upon to be prideful. This is a great story to share with children that will help them understand the moral of being humble rather than prideful.

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book for my 3rd birthday. I've always enjoyed it. I suppose I was a bit like Osa as a child.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful story about pride and how being boastful isn't the best idea. Explained through the story of tapestry this story has a fantastic moral to it.