Mabela the Clever

MacDonald's (Pickin' Peas) spry retelling of an African folktale, in which a mouse imparts the importance of using all the senses, is alight with humor (" `Oh, my, you have ALL arrived!' said the Cat. `How delicious... I mean, how delightful.' "). Tricked by a cat into thinking they're being initiated into his secret society, a village full of mice foolishly learn and obey the words to the club's song: "When we are marching,/ we never look back!/ The cat is at the end,/ Fo Feng!/ Fo Feng!" He promptly absconds with the last mouse in line at each refrain ("Every time the mice shouted Fo Feng! The Cat Fo Fenged another mouse!"). Leading the procession is little Mabela, who has been taught to keep her ears and eyes open, pay attention and, if necessary, "move fast!" Which is exactly what she does once she figures out what Cat is up to, and traps her pursuer, thereby saving all the captured mice. Coffey (Red Berry Wool) plays up the comedy in his subtly exaggerated illustrations. Cat's sharply angular face and elongated oval eyes make an amusing visual contrast to the plump, google-eyed, multi-colored mice. His acrylics on watercolor paper textured with gesso create an appealingly tactile quality, and the uncluttered setting of thatched-roof huts, tawny plains and vibrant greenery are punctuated by bright red-and-purple geometric borders that recall African fabrics. Ages 4-7. 

Copyright 2001 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

MacDonald's retelling of this Limba tale is engineered for storytime success. The silly mice in Mabela's village are hunted by one clever cat. Thankfully, Mabela is pretty clever herself compared to most of her peers. When the cat invites the mice to join her "secret Cat Society," they can hardly believe their luck. All they have to do is lead the cat into the forest, sing at the top of their lungs, and never look back. Because she is the smallest mouse, Mabela is the first in line. With every loud refrain, however, she notices substantial evidence that fewer and fewer mice seem to be singing and marching behind her. Remembering her wise father's advice for survival when she is "out and about," Mabela manages to save her friends and leave the treacherous cat tangled in thorns. MacDonald prefaces the story with brief background information about the oral tradition in Limba culture and suggests an original song and a game to encourage creative interaction. Coffey's thatch-strewn paintings, rendered in acrylic on watercolor paper textured with gesso, feature lots of visibly clueless, wide-eyed mice, and his cat oozes predatory shrewdness to the very end.

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Broad acrylic pictures of the crafty cat and the foolish mice in fanciful colors, and the straw huts that are the animals' homes, suggest a vaguely foreign folkloric setting.

Storytelling World Award-2002 Winner-Stories for Young Listeners
2001 Aesop Accolade, American Folklore Society
2003 Washington Children's Choice Master List