Allison's Book Bag

Back when I used to jot down real tales about my guinea pigs, my husband suggested I get more creative by instead imagining what would happen if my guinea pigs were to visit our local zoo. In essence, this is what H.S. Toshack has done with his Paka Mdogo series except his heroine is a house cat named Sheena and her destination is the African Safari. To date, Toshack has written three books about Sheena, the third (The Meerkat Wars) which I reviewed earlier this year and the first two which I will review here. I love the Paka Mdogo books, which so wonderfully transport me into their exotic world that I lose all track of time. Moreover, as I journey with Sheena on her crazy adventures, the stress of my world evaporates.

LITTLE CAT

Although she is larger-than-life, I love Sheena who is one cheeky and plucky house cat. In chapter one of Little Cat, the first book in the Paka Mdogo series, Sheena faces a decision. She is feeling lonely and bored. The housing compound where she lives is temporarily vacant of people. There also aren’t any animals around except for one lazy dog who prefers to daydream rather than chase Sheena. Sheena can elect to stay where she is, perhaps settling down in the shade to sleep, or she can venture onto the grounds of the nearby International School. When Sheena decides to follow this new path, she makes a decision that will change her life.

For on that path, Sheena encounters a monitor lizard named Kenge. In her encounter with Kenge, Sheena reveals just how daring and resourceful she is. At the same time, Kenge awakens within her a yearning to see the world. While fear tells Sheena to run from Kenge, curiosity makes her stay and talk. Upon learning that Sheena needs to make her own fun because people are away at school during the day, Kenge encourages Sheena to go North. There, in contrast to a dusty and smelly city, she would find gentle hills, open skies, and shady places. Even more exciting, there would be animals to chase and smells to track. Just when he’s enticed Sheena, Kenge reconsiders his suggestion and cautions: “Things that chase are chased in their turn.” When Sheena rejects this warning, Kenge instead tries to show her a few tricks, one of which includes swelling up to monster size. Turns out, Sheena knows some tricks of her own, such as arching her back, extending her claws, and spitting like fat sizzling in a pan. Her trick frightens Kenge enough that he decides it’s time to leave. Yet he can’t resist reminding Sheena that things which chase.

If by now you’re wondering how Sheena intends to go North, well, in the very next chapter transport is conveniently provided by the Allens (Sheena’s family) who just happen to decide to take a vacation there. Of the few flaws in the Paka Mdogo series, one of them is that resolutions sometimes depend more on luck than skill. But at least Toshack confesses to this weakness. When writing about how Sheena manages to sneak onto the family’s Land Rover without being caught, he openly admits: “This is where her luck (and she had lots of it) held.” It is luck indeed that the Allens leave open all the doors and then hang in front of the truck just long enough to allow Sheena time to wriggle into the back without being seen. Then again, it’s a nasty bit of bad luck that allows Sheena to be found by a jackal the moment the family makes a rest stop and Sheena takes a potty break. So, things don’t always work out perfectly for Sheena. And when they don’t, it’s up to Sheena to use her wits to save her hide, especially when she discovers to her horror that jackals can climb trees too. In the middle of forming friendships with giraffes and warthogs, Sheena spends the bulk of her time on safari evading some dangerous predators such as baboons, lions, pythons, and eagles. One of them even tries to attack the Allens.

THE GRADUAL ELEPHANT

Given her multiple close calls, you might wonder at Sheena’s decision in The Gradual Elephant to head back up North. Toshack addresses this question in the second chapter of The Gradual Elephant by telling us that one morning Sheena woke up to realize that her life was just too easy. “She wasn’t a young cat, and before she was old she wanted to smell many more smells, even if some of them frightened her to death.” I can’t fault her for that. The one difference is that because last time the Allens themselves had faced danger from a lioness with a sharp eye for a meal, Sheena decides this time to stay within sight of the Land Rover.

Sheena might have stuck to that resolution if not for a snake attack and an elephant’s request. Turns out, this particular snake isn’t just any old cobra; it’s a spitting cobra. Despite Sheena being six feet away, it blinds her with poison. As of this moment, I was hooked – I was not going to put down The Gradual Elephant without learning what would happen next. Toshack is an expert at building suspense. In one section, he writes about how Sheena regrets not having seen an elephant on her first visit, once had a tabby-cat friend named Toby, and feels confident about not getting lost as she seeks out smells because she can always find her way home by following the river bed. Just as I start to feel comfortable, Toshack writes that there’s a snake curled up ahead in the grass.  Luckily, Sheena halts far enough from it to stay out of striking range – except that “Sheena had a made a mistake.”

A young elephant named Mpole saves Sheena’s life and she agrees to journey with him while he takes seven tests to prove his worth to the elephant herd. In Mpole, Toshack has created yet another endearing character. Mpole is a small elephant who is gradually getting big. Everything about Mpole is gradual, including his acquisition of skills. When he first showers Sheena with water, it feels to her as if the shower tap were either on or off, with nothing in between. The next time he tries, however, it feels instead as if it has less force. When Sheena learns that Mpole doesn’t feel grown up, but is being forced by his family to suddenly get older, she nicknames him “The Gradual Elephant” with the hope that he might feel okay to take thing slowly. That seems like sound advice for all of us.

THE PAGA MDOGO SERIES

For the most part, I appreciate not only the characters of the entire Paka Mdogo series but the plot too. For example, one of my favorite moments in The Gradual Elephant is when Mpole meets The Only Elephant, who asks Mpole a series of questions. To prepare Mpole, Sheena offers advice that she had heard Dad Allen give to Thomas Allen about passing exams. Yet ultimately these questions are not so much about what riddles Mpole can solve or what knowledge he can regurgitate, but are more about admitting to his greatest fear. Based on Mpole’s admission, the Only Elephant gives Mpole his hardest challenge: “You must persuade a young cow elephant that you are not stupid. You must chase her and you must get her to stop and wait for you. She must let you come close to her and touch her with your trunk.” As a side note, when you read The Gradual Elephant, see how long it takes you to figure out the one riddle Mpole is unable to solve.

Unfortunately, I didn’t always appreciate the plot. You might recall that I criticized Little Cat for having some contrived solutions. Well, they happen again in The Gradual Elephant. The worst comes near the end and involves poachers. My husband loves how fantasy authors transport him into another world, but complains that some authors seem to feel their imaginary world isn’t enough without over-the-top drama. Sadly, this is what happens in the climax of the first two books in the Paka Mdogo books (but not in the third book The Meerkat Wars, which has a more plausible end. Perhaps this shows Toshack has grown more adept at handling plot structure, which is good news for readers.) Sheena is admittedly unusually clever and witty for a cat, but I willingly accept this bit of fantasy only up until the point Sheena faces the impossible situation of keeping poachers from killing Only Elephant. Sheena is only a house cat. There should be some limits to what she can do. And when there aren’t, I feel a little jarred, which is an undesirable reaction when reading an otherwise stupendous series.

After hearing how much I enjoyed The Meerkat Wars, H.S. Toshack sent me a copy of the first two books in The Paka Mdogo series. I reverently put them aside until I had time to savor them. Now that I have, I write this glowing review with hopes that Toshack will grace the world with a thousand more tales of Sheena.

P.S. Has anyone figured out yet why Sheena has a stubby tail? All The Paka Mdogo books allude to there being a reason for it, but so far I have not encountered an explanation.

Do you know where your cat is when you head off on vacation? Are you sure that she stays home? To date, The Paka Mdogo books comprise a series of three books about Sheena the house cat and her adventures on an African Safari. Her human family, the Allens, have no idea that she hides in their Land Rover or that she jumps out upon the family’s arrival at their campsite. They also have no idea of all the exotic animals Sheena meets.

Daily Teaser Archives

For the first two days this week, I’ll give you clues from Little Cat about some of those animals. For the other two days this week, I’ll list the tests that one of Sheena’s animals friends must complete to be accepted by his herd. Then on Saturday I’ll post a review of the first two books. The third I reviewed back in January: The Meerkat Wars

Safari Animals

Let the guessing games begin! Based on the clues below, what animals does Sheena see on her African safari?

Animal #1: “The thing that had caught her attention was well hidden. All she could see were the brown lines of branches among the dark leaves. Then there was the flat rock. Then just above the rock there was a thick branch sticking out from among the foliage. There there the branch’s two eyes and its tongue flicking in and out…. If it was a snake, it was a very thick one. She had seen a puff adder before, but this was twice as thick around the middle. And if it was a snake, it was a snake with legs, she now realized as it emerged from the bushes.” (pp.6-7)

PS One last clue: This animal’s tongue is blue!

Animal #2: Here are a few ways in which this animal is different from a dog (pp.52-54)

• They aren’t choosy about what they eat.
• When they’ve decided what they’re going to eat, they catch it and kill it, then hide it for a day or two so that it will taste better. Next they chew their catch up and swallow it a bit. Then they take their back to their pups and regurgitate it.
• There is a place called Olduvai Gorge where there bones have been found. Those bones are believed to be over one million years old.
• To talk, they emit a mixture of howls, yelps, whines, squeaks, cackles, and yips.
• They can climb trees.

Animal #3: “One minute she was alone in the tree-top, the next there was a head with her…. It was three times as long as Sheena’s whole body, with enormous dark eyes, two short furry horns with black-tipped knobs on the end, large ears that pointed upwards, and wide lips that curled outwards. (p.57)

Animal #4: ”Its pushy manner was matched by a very pushy face, one that came forward aggressively into a long snout with wide  nostrils at the end. Its eyes were bright, small and close together, and set back under a forehead with a straight bottom edge as if there were a much smaller animal in there…. They all looked alike, with coarse olive-green fur and straight, thin-lipped mouths.  They stared at her piercingly from under their beetling brows. They had pulled their ears back so that the skin on their faces was  stretched tight and their teeth began to show…. “ (pp. 78-79)

PS One last clue: Its arms are long enough to reach the ground.

Animal #5: ”They were strange-looking animals. There was something dwarf-like about them. Their heads were very large and long  and hairy. Their shoulders were smooth and muscular, but their bodies were rounded and quite small, and sloped away to short,  spindly legs. The feet on the end of the legs were tiny. They also looked as fierce as dwarves. Their jaws were square at the bottom,  and curved tusks grew out sideways from their mouths. Their faces had lumps growing on them, in pairs.” (pp. 98-99)

Animal #6: Something falls from above onto Sheena, flattening her to the ground and pinning her there so that she can’t move. She  feels as if she is under a thick tree branch, one that is olive-green with brown patches outlined in yellow, but instead she’s under an animal. The  weight of whatever creature has fallen on Sheena is pressing down on her and gripping her body. Its sharp and small teeth are penetrating her  skin. When Sheena manages to twist slightly, she discovers that she is being held tightly in the massive jaws of….? (pp. 139-140)

PS One last clue: A diamond-shaped marking covers its head, with the point touching its nose.

Animals #7: This handsome flying creature has a red face, brown eyes and an orange beak with a hooked tip, black on top and sharp. Its head and shoulders are black. It has four long talons. What animal takes Sheena for a ride and a dive? (p. 157)

Elephant Tests

What if your pet had to pass a series of them to be considered an adult? In The Gradual Elephant, Sheena helps a young elephant named Mpole to face seven tests that he must pass to be accepted by his herd.

• Test of the Tusks: wrestle with the smallest accepted elephant until one elephant tires out
• Test of the Great Fire: walk through a wall of flame
• Test of the Lions: walk pass the first lions to be seen
• Test of the Land Rover: make a Land Rover turn around and go back the way it came
• Test of the Oldest Elephant: answer all the questions of the ancient elephant
• Test of the Greatest Fear: face whatever is most fearful
• Test of the Watermelons: eat some watermelons that are in a human settlement

Mpole can take the above seven tests in whatever order he wishes. What order would you take them?

Sheena helps Mpole with his tests by offering six pieces of advice she had heard from her human family. What advice would you give for taking tests? What do you think of her advice?

• Don’t try to answer a question until you understand it.
• Think of a different way the question could have been asked.
• Turn words and numbers into pictures if you can.
• When you’ve eliminated all the possible answers except one, accept that one must be right.
• Don’t think about what a question means, think about why it was asked.
• Say what sounds right to you, not what you think will sound right to someone else.

Elephant Riddles

Who is the comic in your family? When he was in elementary school, my brother used to love to make up jokes. In The Gradual Elephant, Thomas Allen likes to try out elephant riddles on his family. Can you figure out the answer to any of the ones I’ve listed below?

• How does an elephant travel when it wants to go a long way?
• What do you get on the spreadsheet when an elephant is sick?
• Where should you send a Trojan elephant?
• Why do elephants have cracks between their toes?
• Why couldn’t you see the other animal in the chocolate mousse?
• What was the nervous elephant doing on the motorway?
• How do you tell the difference between an elephant and a Christmas tree ornament?

Return tomorrow for my review of the two books in The Paka Mdogo series. The third I reviewed back in January: The Meerkat Wars. If you remember, I compared it to Watership Down by Richard Adams. I’ll review that book next week!