Chris Theodore, Sundiata . Lion King of Mali

  When Sundiata's arrow flies straight and true... (sorry need to cope with the loss somehow 😓)

Couple things to start.

1. This is going to be weird, but who cares because I doubt I am the only one... but the book just smells great. It is like one of those car/house magazines and just yeah... smells fantastic.

2. Now that one is out of the way, I really enjoyed reading a picture book. As many others have pointed out, it is so refreshing to get your head out of a textbook and actually enjoy beautiful illustrations and read something in 10ish minutes. The art within this book is actually beautiful with all its intricacies and colors. The way it is designed creates this strong sense of depth and emotion that I haven't gotten out of many picture books. I also enjoyed that in the "Notes" section of the book, Wisniewski goes in depth about the cultural considerations and accuracy that went into the illustrations. Instead of coming up with some BS excuse to not change something (not a subtweet at all... ), he actually went back and redrew things in order to fit the things he has learned from meeting experts. So, overall, standing ovation already for Wisniewski.

3. Turns out a griot has been a long part of West African culture. I was very confused at first at what they were, so in doing some quick little googling I came to this conclusion. A griot is essentially a glorified historian... I know that may be over-simplifying it a lot and not fairly do the role justice, but just click on the link for a more in-depth description.

Now to one of my favorite parts:

I am just going to quote this last part because it is so darn good. 

""Hatred drove me from this land," he said, "because of what I seemed to be: a crawling child, unworthy of respect and unfit to rule. Mali has suffered great hardship as a result. "Now I return as your king. Henceforth, none shall interfere with another's destiny. You, your children, and your children's children shall find their appointed place within this land forever."

This quote just spoke to me on so many levels. It often seems that we may conceive people to be one thing or another thing without ever truly knowing them or giving them a chance. This story eloquently shows how jealously and power over others can never be the correct position to have. Sundiata's rise could be consider rags to riches, however I don' think it accurately labels his inability in his early years as being the rags. Everyone, and I mean it everyone, has the power to become the king or queen of their own life. Sundiata's journey showed that someone who has struggled and faced unfair treatment can still come to conquer his own inabilities and become stronger and an inspiration at the end. The quote also says to how hatred will not be tolerated in this new kingdom. Sundiata, the Lion King of Mali, demonstrates the symbolic values of courage a lion can represent. He has the courage to stand up and fight the hatred, though not with hatred but kindness. This is just something that can relate to daily life, at least for myself. I never know who someone truly is. I should never just discount or exclude someone based on identities or characteristics they have without giving them an honest chance and believing in the good in them.

And the part I didn't quite like...

The king likes his polygamy. This of course created a lot of the conflict for the book, and yes, most likely existed then (and maybe still does...). I am not here to impose what I believe, just thought of it as a "yikes" kind of moment. Sogolon just seems to be this object used to give birth to this prophecy of a child. But, I must admit, she does seem sort of empowered in the book as she helps push Sundiata and helps him develop. But yeah, this part was not my favorite.

Overall, loved this! Can't wait to see how some of these things play into Disney's Lion King because I haven't watched it in some time!