Short stories
Un enfant comme les autres
Not translated into English
Pabé Mongo · 1972
Synopsis
Fifteen short tales drawn from the childhood memories of Papa Mongo, the child like any other of the title, in the village of Doumé, near Abong-Mbang, in south-eastern Cameroon. Anecdotes and adventures follow one another, and the figure that stands out is that of the grandmother, Ayaa. The book is explicitly addressed to the children of Africa, and its author dedicates it to all the children of the world.
Context
The collection appeared in Yaoundé in 1972 from the CLE publishing house, in 59 pages. Édicef reissued it in 1989, illustrated by Lama Masudi, then in 2011, in 70 pages. Jean Ferdinand Tchoutouo, librarian at the Institut français in Douala, makes it the starting point of a Cameroonian literature for young people; the journal Takam Tikou, which recommends it from age twelve, finds it fresh, cheerful and endearing, and sees in Ayaa the first grandmother of African children's literature.
Who it is for
In French, short stories that can be read separately. It helps to know that their author wrote them while still a lycée pupil.
Prizes and reception
No prize found. In November 2022, Yaoundé celebrates the fifty years of writing that this book had opened.
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The pages consulted to check this page.