The Tortoise's Gift: A Tale from Zambia (Stories From Around the World)

My family-friend was going on a mission to Zambia and this was a parting gift for her she absolutely loved it. She’s a school teacher and this made her so happy.

I bought this book for my 8 year old. It was a sweet story, however, I wondered how it came to be. I am from Zambia, and I am not sure what the author's relationship to my country is, if at all there is any. It is my guess that there was no actual relationship because the book had an inescapable disconnect. For instance, there were no specifics, if you are going to take a group of people's story and publish it, atleast respect the people enough to have some specifics about their country in the book. Where in Zambia? What river? Do we even grow grapes in Zambia to the point where the animals would call out for grapes from a tree? No, our climate doesn't allow for that. Our folktales aren't universal, many if them are specific to tribe. This was borderline cultural appropriation.

Children love this story.