In The Dimpsey Chronicles, Amata discusses parenting
31 January 2021 |
4:04 am
The Dimpsey Chronicles by Erumena Amata is a children’s book that dwells on the need to employ workable technique for a successful parenting.
The Dimpsey Chronicles by Erumena Amata is a children’s book that dwells on the need to employ workable technique for a successful parenting.
Beyond teaching absolute parenting, the 11-chapter book, which is set in Warri, features the traditional Nigeria family culture of living under one roof with immediate and extended family members, as well as the Africa belief system of togetherness, oneness and unconditional love for friends and neighbours.
The book centres on five-year-old Dimpsey, a child born into a family full of grown up siblings, aunties, uncles and cousins living under one roof. Dimpsey’s father, a well-to-do man, accommodates extended family members and shoulders responsibility for all of them.
The author introduces the birth of Dimpsey in the first chapter and how this addition changes everything — the excitement and joy in the family.
The point of conflict is in chapter two, when Dimpsey, now five years old, is forced by her mother to make a choice between sleeping in her parents’ bedroom despite being old enough to sleep in her own and her desired forthcoming fifth birthday party that she already themed ‘Sofia the First’.
Dimpsey’s mother, knowing how excited she is about her fifth birthday, comes up with a trade by barter technique, which compels Dimpsey to trade sleeping in her parent’s bedroom for her luxury dream fifth birthday party. Because she’s anticipated the fifth birthday all her life and had told her friends in school about how big the celebration will be, she gives up her parent’s bedroom and moves to her own bedroom on her fifth birthday so she can have her Sofia the First party.
The author is quite conscious of her targeted readers, as she makes her reader feel as though they are in a classroom with the teacher telling an interactive, informative and educative story of young Dimpsey and her family to the pupils.
However, the author may need to have the book re-edited to correct a couple of spelling errors, redundancies and grammatical structure errors. Also, the author uses past tense in the description of some of her characters and portfolio as though they no longer exist. For instance: “Her mother was a very important person too… Dimpsey’s mother operated a private school called First Fount Nursery and Preparatory School… She was what you call a proprietress…”
Also, while it might be easier for children to have the author explain the meaning of complex words as she did in the book, I suggest the author takes off written meaning or explanation of words that readers can find in the dictionary on their own.
Aside from the few hiccups here and there, which will come clean with professional editing, ‘The Dimpsey Chronicles’ is an insightful, informative and educative book for children between age four and above.
The book is also recommended for teachers and parents, as there are a number of parenting and teaching tactics that can be adopted from ‘The Dimpsey Chronicles’.
Latest
16 mins ago
The Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) says it is targeting over 2.8 million children for the second round of polio outbreak response immunisation in the state.
42 mins ago
The Nigerian Army, on Friday morning, released the monarch, Prince Clement Ikolo Ogenerukevwe, declared wanted a few weeks ago over the killing of 17 military personnel in Okuama, Delta State. It specifically said although it has not exonerated anybody regarding the incident but decided to release the monarch after the intervention of a highly-placed personality…
59 mins ago
Polish authorities have arrested two men suspected of attacking a close ally of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Vilnius in March, Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda said Friday.
1 hour ago
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir came under severe criticism for harming Israel's strategy against Iran after he suggested Israel was behind blasts that rocked Iran on Friday.
1 hour ago
The Lagos State Government said its food security initiative is fully on track. Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, disclosed this at a press briefing on Thursday. Omotosho said with the Ounje Eko intervention programme (discount weekly market), the food security initiative of the state is solid. READ ALSO: Lagos requires N50b…
2 hours ago
The Federal Government has charged stakeholders in the automotive sector on the realisation of made-in-Nigeria vehicles for economic growth and development. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Doris Anite, said this on Thursday in Abuja, during a Dialogue on Automotive Component Manufacturing in Nigeria. According to Anite, the country has the consumer base…
2 hours ago
Bosses worried about turnover or wondering how long a new hire will stick around can now turn to AI for a heads-up on who might be next out the door.
2 hours ago
The Lagos State Government said it will test run the Redline Rail from Agbado to Iddo next week. The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, disclosed this at a press briefing on Thursday. Omotoso said that for two months, various interest groups and stakeholders will be invited to take a ride on…
2 hours ago
Police in Lagos State have intercepted some bags of substances, suspected to be Indian Hemp, at a Jetty in Ojo area of Lagos and arrested a suspect.
2 hours ago
Afrobeats superstar Davido has partnered with United Masters to launch his label Nine+ Records. Davido aims to nurture new talent and explore diverse musical genres beyond Afrobeats, including hip-hop, R&B, Latin, and more. He is partnering with Veteran American record executive, Steve Stoute, who is the founder of United Records. Speaking about his partnership with…
×
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
0 Comments
We will review and take appropriate action.