The Fire Children

by Eric Maddern

The first man and woman are lonely. What to do? They decide to fashion children out of clay. As they are baking the little figures in their fire, they're constantly interrupted by visits from the sky-god, Nyame. As a result, some of the children are pale and underdone, some are left in so long that they come out very dark, and the rest are every shade between. Frané Lessac’s gorgeous gouache paintings, inspired by West African masks and pottery, and Eric Maddern’s vivid text make this one of the most compelling of creation myths for young readers.

Genres: Africa

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Kiah Vega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book I read on placement. A light hearted and humorous story filled with colourful pictures and abstract concepts but a deeper message can be extracted. Because of the inclusive message behind the story , this book could be used as a simple read or a way to address prominent and sensitive subjects.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Maddern has retold a number of “pourquoi” tales for children. This one comes from West African mythology and offers an explanation for why there are people of different colors on the earth.

The story begins with Nyame, “the great sky-god” who created the earth. One day two spirit people, a male and a female, climbed out of Nyame’s mouth to enjoy the earth the sky god had made. They became lonely however, and decided to create some children out of clay. They put them in the fire to bake, but ran when Nyame came looking for them. This happened day after day until Nyame finally let them be and returned to the sky. The spirit people, Kwaku Ananse and Aso Yaa, ended up with a variety of children who had been left in the oven for different times and thus were different colors. But they were all their children, and they loved all of them equally.

The story is well-told, but what stands out about this book are the gorgeous illustrations by Frané Lessac. Her colorful goache paintings are done in a folkloric, primitive style with rich detail and vivid colors dominated by warm earth-tones.

Evaluation: This beautiful book will help children understand that porquoi stories are universally employed to explain the world, evincing a uniqueness and creativity reflecting the heritage of different cultures. The illustrator even includes a teacher’s guide for this book on her blog. Recommended for pre-schoolers.

Rating: 3.5/5

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pourquoi story (one of many early creation/why myths and which Africa abounds), this story shares the telling of how the sky-god Nyame created the earth. The text is well chosen, being sparse and to the point in places, just as you would want these early stories and alongside Lessac's gouche, primitive-like paintings, this is a nice retelling (and nice that the book details where the story has been lifted from: Gods and Men: Myths and Legends from the World's Religions Interestingly, a Goodreads reader (Jill) found this link to a teacher's guidecompiled by the illustrator.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

A retelling of the West African tale about the creation of the world and all its different peoples.

[Haley Hoenke · Rating 3 out of 5]

#social studies

[Lizzy Preece · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to a year 2 class on my placement and both myself and the children thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel like it was a great way to introduce the topic of race and how every person is different. It encouraged the children to notice that each and everyone of them were different to one another and that it was a positive thing. It also helped the children to understand the difference between this tale and their beliefs, as it is counteractive to the original story that most children in the class believe is true.