Handa's Surprise - Eileen Browne

The author of this book is Eileen Browne, Eileen was born and brought up in Birmingham. Eileen lived in London for over twenty years before moving to Wiltshire where she now lives. She worked as a school teacher and a youth worker before becoming an author and illustrator. Handa's Surprise is a really simple story set in Kenya, the children featured in this book are from the Luo tribe of south-west Kenya. It is a great multicultural book that is often used in pre-school, nursery and early years settings. It introduces children to unfamiliar places with different animals, foods and ways of life through words and pictures. Handa put seven delicious ...  Read the complete review

***Handa's Surprise*** I was working in the school library, when I stumbled across this book - it brought back memories of when I used to read it both to my own children and also the children in my class. ***What is it all about?*** This is a beautifully illustrated picture book published by Walker Books. It starts with a foreword that says " The children featured in this book are from the Luo tribe of South West Kenya. It tells the tale of Handa. She decides to walk to see her friend Akeyo and with her she carries 7 fruits which she thinks Akeyo may like. Now the journey is long way and she carries the fruit on her ...  Read the complete review

Author/Illustrator: Eileen Brown Publisher: Walker Books Ltd Published Date: July 1995 No of Pages: 32 Genre: Children's fiction Age Suitability: 2-5 Awards: Short listed for the 1995 Sheffield Children's Book Award About the author Born in Birmingham, Eileen Browne has lived and worked in London for the past 20 years. Having worked both as a school teacher and as a youth worker, Eileen is well placed to know what children expect from their stories. Having her first book published in 1977 Eileen is a rare breed in that she not only writes her stories but also illustrates them. I think this goes some way to ...  Read the complete review

Handa's Surprise Like many people who work or live with children Eileen Browne thought that she would be able to write a successful children's book. After all, all you need to do is write a couple of lines per page, create an attractive central character and throw in some moral or life lesson and bob's your uncle, royalty cheques by the busload. The reality is somewhat different, and when something looks deceptively easy it's because it is anything but easy. Fortunately, Browne is an excellent children's author (as well as an accomplished illustrator) and has now produced several very good books. Her publications include 'Through the Window', 'Tick Tock' and ...  Read the complete review

This is a very good multi-cultural book for young children. ~ Eileen Browne ~ Eileen Browne worked as a teacher and a youth worker before becoming an author and illustrator. She once said that "certain groups of people are not well represent in books. Females only feature as main characters in around a third of children's books, because of this I give them priority." She has written and illustrated some 'ground-breaking', different books, e.g. 'Through my Window' (1986) was the first ever picture book in Britain to feature a child with a black mother and white father. Eileen Browne has written and/or ...  Read the complete review