BOOKISH: Folktales from Africa: The Baboons Who Went This Way And That

Source: Amazon.com

Like the title says, this book by Alexander McCall Smith is comprised of 19 folktales from Botswana and Zimbabwe. They're all about 7-10 pages long, accompanied by illustrations. They all have some sort of moral about kindness, obedience, patience, freedom, redemption and love, and the good always outsmarts the bad in the end. Some stories were violent, others were about animals, and others involved the supernatural. I most enjoyed the stories that invoked the scenery of the Matopos and Matabeleland. Ah, Zimbabwe, I miss you.

My favourite stories were (no particular order): 

1. Chicken, Hawk & the Missing Needle
2. Head Tree
3. The Baboons Who Went This Way and That

This was a very quick read -- it took me a couple of hours from start to finish. So if you're feeling lazy and have nothing else to, give this a go.