The Water Princess (urspr publ 2016; utgåvan 2016)

La Princesse de l’Eau Claire (The Princess of Clear Water) is a short story about a young girl named Gie Gie and her daily struggle to get clean water for her family. While never explicitly stated, the afterword strongly implies that the setting is modeled on Goudi, Burkina Faso. The afterword of the book highlights the work done by the Georgie Badiel Foundation, an NGO which works to provide clean drinking water. It’s beautifully illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, who does excellent, evocative artwork with all the shades of yellow, orange, and red.

If I’m being entirely honest, I read this because it’s in (children’s) French, and I’m working to improve my French (because I am a terrible Anglo Canadian). Translating something is rewarding in ways that just memorizing flashcards and irregular verb conjugations just isn’t. It took me about an hour to go through the entire ~30 pages of the book, doing my best to translate each line, check the translation against Google Translate (which curiously kept stumbling on the word “bois”), and make notes back in my notepad. No surprise, my French is still atrocious. But if you have a diminutive Francophone in your care and want to expand their horizons a little bit, this would be a good book to do so with.

Review with images: http://pvoberstein.tumblr.com/post/181567131188/la-princesse-de-leau-claire ( )

This book is about Gie Gie who lives in a small village located in Africa. She loves drinking water, but the water well is so far from her village. In order to get water, she wakes up early morning and takes the long journey to get clean water back to her village for the day. “It’s a long travel, but it is for my people who need it most.” ( )

Sweet and a little funny, I loved the main character here. And the after-notes were really useful! ( )

Gie Gie is a princess who can dance with the tall grass and who can play hide-and-seek with the wind. Why can't she make the water that she has to fetch every morning before the sun even awakes come closer? Gie Gie and her maman must start walking before dawn to the well, making it back home at dusk. The well's water is cloudy, too. So no matter how thirsty they are, they still cannot drink it until maman boils it first...when they back. But at the watering hole are Gie Gie's friends. She plays. She communes. She laughs. She dances. Then, she works. She walks. She waits. She gulps. She rests. And then, she dreams. Until the morn, little one. Dreams dissipate by the dawning of reality. ( )

Gie Gie and her mother walk miles everyday to collect water. They wake up, grab their empty pots, and start their journey to the well. Their journey is full of song and laughter. They stop on the way to grab some nuts for energy. Finally, they get to the well and wait their turn to get the dirty water. Then, they start their journey back home. When going to bed, Gie Gie wonders why the water is so far away and not clear. The vibrant illustrations help bring light to a story of hard times. ( )