Tale
Le Caneton égaré
Not translated into English
Pyabelo Kouly Chaold · 1969
Synopsis
On a farm, among the round huts and the granaries, the duckling Paff takes advantage of a moment of inattention from his mother and finds himself alone, lost in the street. Kpiou, the peasant woman who works in the farmyard, stops near him, observes him and wonders whether this pretty duckling might not belong to her farm. The picture book tells of the discovery of the wider world and the experience of freedom, and its author saw in it a lesson for a youth she considered too unruly, to whom she wanted to pass on the upbringing received by the elders.
Context
The picture book first appeared in July 1969 in Kempen, Germany, where its author lived, more at ease in German than in French; the Nouvelles Éditions africaines reissued it in Lomé, in 1986 according to the BnF, then in 1993 and in 1996, with illustrations by Coawovi. For lack of publishers and booksellers who believed in it, she paid part of the printing costs herself and distributed her schoolbooks from school to school. Togolese critics regard her as the pioneer of children's literature in the country.
Who it is for
A picture book of about twenty pages for young children, in French and illustrated, to be read aloud.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as one of the first books of Togolese children's literature, which private schools put on their syllabus.
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