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Where Are You Going, Manyoni? (Hardback) - Common
"Manyoni is on her way to school; she gets up at dawn to walk two hours across the plain, along the Limpopo riverbed....As seen in Stock's beautifully rendered impressionistic watercolors...wild animals and birds are on almost every spread--more than 30 in all....A lovely book that draws the reader right in."--Kirkus Reviews. Pronouncing glossary.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1993
2 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 16, 2009
This story takes place on the Limpop River in Zimbabwe. It's about a girl who passes through a veld on the way to school. She skips all the way and passes many things like shady kloofs, baobab trees and bushpigs, etc. These words are great for modeling how to make inferences of unknown words. This story gives the students the opportunity to learn what inferencing is and how to make inferences by rereading, looking closely at the pictures, using their schema and to think really hard about what unknown words mean.
June 22, 2009
Beautiful book! Provides wonderful discussions about animals, transportation, languages, etc. Perfect book to use for comparing and contrasting with students.
October 16, 2017
The pictures in this book were breathtaking! Each animal picture, except for the leopard, was drawn after a real life animal that the writer observed. The story itself does a good job of describing far some children have to travel in order to get their education.
January 29, 2021
Readers can have fun finding Manyoni on each page as she travels through Zimbabwean landscapes, wonderfully created in watercolor images that are both detailed and abstract, providing a wide perspective. Includes a glossary and picture dictionary of animals found in the book. Ages 4-8
November 6, 2020
A lovely book, and a good one for a one-on-one snuggly read-aloud. Not a lot of action, but for a kid who likes to pore over a picture and find charming details, this will be a hit.
April 10, 2024
Found in L4L Volume 31.
September 19, 2017
As posted on Zezee with Books.
Where Are You Going, Manyoni was illustrated by Swedish illustrator Catherine Stock. The story follows a little girl named Manyoni as she prepares for and walks to school. Set on the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe, Manyoni travels a long distance to school and passes many wild animals on her way.
Stock does a great job of emphasizing how far Manyoni must travel — walking — alone to school. Of the book’s 48 pages (according to Goodreads), four at the beginning show Manyoni at home preparing for the day and six at the end show Manyoni arriving at the village, interacting with her teacher, and playing at school. The rest of the pages are all of Manyoni walking to school.
Since illustrated children’s books are short, I tend to reread them before jotting down my thoughts. The first time I read this book, I didn’t see the point of the story. To me then, the character wakes up, walks to school, and plays when she gets there. Not much to that plot; she doesn’t even interact much with anything on her walk, except when she meets a friend toward the end.
However, on my reread I realized that the plot’s emphasis is on Manyoni’s surroundings: The emphasis is on the art, which I missed on my first read because I didn’t pay much attention to the art. I didn’t like it. If I had paid attention, I’d have noticed that Stock tries to capture the look and feel of the land around the Limpopo River in her watercolor paintings. Also, she has craftily included many animals along Manyoni’s walk that are only noticeable if one pays attention to the art. Because of this, I think kids will enjoy reading this book and pointing out the animals they notice. There is a glossary in the back that includes illustrations of the animals and their names to help identify them.
Art style:
I didn’t like it, unfortunately. I usually like how watercolor paint makes colors bleed into each other, but for some reason, that style didn’t appeal to me here. I guess it’s because of the colors used — a myriad of pale greens and browns to capture the look of the land. I think I prefer watercolor for more vibrant colors so even if the color is toned down, its vibrancy is still apparent.
Despite my dislike though, Stock did a great job of portraying the landscape of the Limpopo River and using her illustrations to emphasize and communicate an element of the story that is unstated: the long distance Manyoni must travel alone.
Overall: ★★☆☆☆
The story is fine and I recommend it to parents because I think kids will enjoy reading it and identifying the animals, but I really don’t like the art.
Where Are You Going, Manyoni was illustrated by Swedish illustrator Catherine Stock. The story follows a little girl named Manyoni as she prepares for and walks to school. Set on the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe, Manyoni travels a long distance to school and passes many wild animals on her way.
Stock does a great job of emphasizing how far Manyoni must travel — walking — alone to school. Of the book’s 48 pages (according to Goodreads), four at the beginning show Manyoni at home preparing for the day and six at the end show Manyoni arriving at the village, interacting with her teacher, and playing at school. The rest of the pages are all of Manyoni walking to school.
Since illustrated children’s books are short, I tend to reread them before jotting down my thoughts. The first time I read this book, I didn’t see the point of the story. To me then, the character wakes up, walks to school, and plays when she gets there. Not much to that plot; she doesn’t even interact much with anything on her walk, except when she meets a friend toward the end.
However, on my reread I realized that the plot’s emphasis is on Manyoni’s surroundings: The emphasis is on the art, which I missed on my first read because I didn’t pay much attention to the art. I didn’t like it. If I had paid attention, I’d have noticed that Stock tries to capture the look and feel of the land around the Limpopo River in her watercolor paintings. Also, she has craftily included many animals along Manyoni’s walk that are only noticeable if one pays attention to the art. Because of this, I think kids will enjoy reading this book and pointing out the animals they notice. There is a glossary in the back that includes illustrations of the animals and their names to help identify them.
Art style:
I didn’t like it, unfortunately. I usually like how watercolor paint makes colors bleed into each other, but for some reason, that style didn’t appeal to me here. I guess it’s because of the colors used — a myriad of pale greens and browns to capture the look of the land. I think I prefer watercolor for more vibrant colors so even if the color is toned down, its vibrancy is still apparent.
Despite my dislike though, Stock did a great job of portraying the landscape of the Limpopo River and using her illustrations to emphasize and communicate an element of the story that is unstated: the long distance Manyoni must travel alone.
Overall: ★★☆☆☆
The story is fine and I recommend it to parents because I think kids will enjoy reading it and identifying the animals, but I really don’t like the art.
Want to read
September 24, 2016Ages 4-6
February 15, 2012
Typically I read Where Are You Going, Manyoni? towards the end of the year. I choose to do this becuase I can incorporate all of the Comprehension Strategies I have been teaching, within one story. I love the new and different vocabulary in the book because it really encourages my students to pay close attention and use their context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words. It is a touching story with many higher-level thinking opportunities available.
November 28, 2011
I read this book to my second graders when doing a lesson on inferring word meanings. This book is about a girl named Manyoni who lives in Africa and her walk to school. The book uses a variety of big words and names that would be unfamiliar to students (native animals to Africa, trees, rivers, etc.). It's a good book to teach inferring word meanings with.
November 7, 2008
Manyoni walks a long way to get to school in her Zimbabwe town. This would be a good book for inferring since the author doesn't really tell you she walks a long way. It would also be good for predicting since you don't know until well into the story where she is going.
July 20, 2010
A wonderful book to read at the beginning of a lesson on Africa. The text and illustrations will give students a vivid picture of African landscape and specific environmental terms (baobab tree, the kloof, etc.). Good book to use as a hook at the beginning of class.
February 8, 2012
The lovely art mixed with the seemingly, long voyage to school was an adventure to read. From the time Manyoni wakes up, she is on a mission. The mission takes her high and low and never did she stop.
May 28, 2014
A beautifully sequenced story of a little girls walk across African countryside to meet her friends and go to school.
Vocabulary - many African words and specific action words for walking.
Narrative structure - clear sequencing of a story.
Vocabulary - many African words and specific action words for walking.
Narrative structure - clear sequencing of a story.
January 26, 2017
Lovely illustrated story about a young girls walking journey to school in Zimbabwe. The author/illustrator obviously loves the African countryside. My students loved looking at each page spread to find the little girl as well as the many other animals she placed in their native habitat.
July 24, 2011
A child living near the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe encounters several wild animals on her way to school.
February 10, 2015
Beautiful book set in Zimbabwe.
March 23, 2013
This book details Manyoni's walk to school every day. She sees various animals and landforms during her long walk. Can be used for inferring the meaning of the many unfamiliar words in the text.
June 16, 2013
The illustrations are better than the story. A lot, in my opinion. I wanted to look and look at each page and enjoy the vistas and animals of Zimbabwe.
August 28, 2014
A little girl walks for two hours to get to school. The beautiful watercolor illustrations give a sense of how very far it is. Good book to talk about the UN Millenium Goal of education for all.
November 21, 2016
Great book to show kids the perspective of people their age in a different country.
April 24, 2012
Used in a mini lesson for inferring.
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May 7, 2019I really liked this book because I think it would really take my students on a journey to another place based on the descriptive language and the animals.
The illustrations in this book are watercolors. They are especially beautiful. In addition, the endpapers are copied from indigeous people thousands of years ago,
The illustrations in this book are watercolors. They are especially beautiful. In addition, the endpapers are copied from indigeous people thousands of years ago,
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews