Recommended by Ali and Isa

Yusuf lives with his family in the African rainforest, and his favorite drink is sweet palm sap - so when baboons start taking the sap from "his" tree, he comes up with a plan to trick them into thinking the sap is bitter and leaving it alone. Oh yes, oh yes! ( )

Summary:
This is a multicultural book about a young boy named Yusuf who lives with his family in an African village located in the middle of the rain forest. In this story Yusuf is trying to protect his palm sap from a bunch of hungry baboons. He goes through a number of trials and does not give up until he can find a solution to this problem.
Personal Reaction:
I loved how this story took me to another place in the world. The illustrations in this book were also very creative and fun.
Classroom Extension Ideas:
After reading this book to my students I would do a short geography lesson on what kids their age do each day in Africa.
I could also have the students share their ideas on how to keep the baboons away from the palm sap.

Summary: Young Yusuf loves to drink sweet palm sap and also sells it at the market. One day, Yusuf hears a sound near the tree and sees a family of baboons stealing the sap from his tree. Yusuf attempts to stop the baboons by cutting down trees, making a scarecrow and even putting a gourd-boy near the tree. All these are temporary fixes. Yusuf finally hatches a plan that involves help from his family, bitter wormwood, palm sap and bananas. Now Yusuf no longer worries about baboons stealing his palm sap.

Personal Reaction: I thought this book was fun. Exploring ideas to keep the baboons away and watching as they all went wrong was not as funny as I had hoped, but the story is still entertaining for a young age group.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. A taste test with sweet and bitter flavors for students.
2. Ask students to draw scarecrows to keep the baboons away. ( )

This one didn't charm me for some reason. Kinda weird. ( )