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Ifula Kidnapping
When Deborah and Andrew Coates were sent from Leopoldville by their parents to stay with their uncle at Ifula because of a smallpox outbreak, they little knew what lay ahead.
The troubled politics of the Congo contained many incidents of tribal unrest, and it did seem a little strange that, at the last minute, they were to be accompanied on the trip by Jason Malongo, one of their African school friends and the son of a not unimportant Government official.
But the children's misgiving were quickly swept aside in their excited preparations for their unexpected holiday, only to be revived later on in this fast moving, stirring adventure story for young people, to which Monica Marsden, in her own inimitable way, has given a quite unexpected ending.
The troubled politics of the Congo contained many incidents of tribal unrest, and it did seem a little strange that, at the last minute, they were to be accompanied on the trip by Jason Malongo, one of their African school friends and the son of a not unimportant Government official.
But the children's misgiving were quickly swept aside in their excited preparations for their unexpected holiday, only to be revived later on in this fast moving, stirring adventure story for young people, to which Monica Marsden, in her own inimitable way, has given a quite unexpected ending.
111 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1965
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April 23, 2020
I chose to read this book at this time because I have read a few other books set in Africa lately that have been interesting but also because an epidemic was mentioned in the description. The book was written in 1965 and set in the Congo.
The school that Deborah and Andrew Coates go to has been closed for a week during an outbreak of smallpox. Their parents, a doctor and a health education teacher, will be busy so they decide that the children will go visit their uncle at Ifula. Certainly by 1965 the smallpox vaccine was readily available and many people had been vaccinated. Their parents will be seeing to the Africans and Europeans in Leopoldville who have not been vaccinated. At the last minute, a local government official asks if his son, Jason Malongo, one of Deborah's classmates, can go with them.
The rest of the book is about the trip to their uncle's home, the exploring they do and, of course, the kidnapping in the title of the book.
Pros: The setting. The country, the climate, the customs, and the wildlife are all quite different from upstate NY.
Cons: Page 100: Africans in the Congo didn't know what a helicopter was in 1965? Really?
The book is racist by today's standards. The white characters have a very paternalistic attitude towards the Africans. Page 41; It's going to be a long time before Africa grows up." They talk about Africans outside of the city, not just as having a different culture or not being technologically advanced, but as if they are actually children. Page 16: Dr. Coates reminisces about how nice everything was when the Belgians ran the country.
The author repeatedly uses the word "piccanin" to refer to a child. I haven't actually heard that word said out loud by anyone in over 50 years, about the time this book was published.
The school that Deborah and Andrew Coates go to has been closed for a week during an outbreak of smallpox. Their parents, a doctor and a health education teacher, will be busy so they decide that the children will go visit their uncle at Ifula. Certainly by 1965 the smallpox vaccine was readily available and many people had been vaccinated. Their parents will be seeing to the Africans and Europeans in Leopoldville who have not been vaccinated. At the last minute, a local government official asks if his son, Jason Malongo, one of Deborah's classmates, can go with them.
The rest of the book is about the trip to their uncle's home, the exploring they do and, of course, the kidnapping in the title of the book.
Pros: The setting. The country, the climate, the customs, and the wildlife are all quite different from upstate NY.
Cons: Page 100: Africans in the Congo didn't know what a helicopter was in 1965? Really?
The book is racist by today's standards. The white characters have a very paternalistic attitude towards the Africans. Page 41; It's going to be a long time before Africa grows up." They talk about Africans outside of the city, not just as having a different culture or not being technologically advanced, but as if they are actually children. Page 16: Dr. Coates reminisces about how nice everything was when the Belgians ran the country.
The author repeatedly uses the word "piccanin" to refer to a child. I haven't actually heard that word said out loud by anyone in over 50 years, about the time this book was published.
Displaying 1 of 1 review