It is difficult to imagine that Njeri Wangari found the idea of writing for children intimidating. After all, she is an accomplished poet who has spoken to hundreds of people in various spaces and authored a poetry book.
Words should come easily to her. Yet the journey towards writing My Colouring book of Rhymes, Wild animals, launching this Saturday at Baraza Media Lab was not that simple.
My Colouring book of Rhymes is a collection of poems for children, the first edition featuring wild animals and their characteristics.
It is also a colouring book beautifully illustrated by her daughter Naomi Nyawira, a collaboration that both ought to be proud of and cherish at the same time. The book is self-published through her company Wellness Poet.
Njeri’s poetry comes alive in this book. She does justice to Kenya’s animals talking about their characteristics in a witty, rhyming manner in this book that will no doubt endear to its intended audience - young children. “Can a cheetah cheat other cats as they sit and chat with their cute cuddly cubs? Or this huge and hippy hippo loves to hang out by the lake...” is some of the imagery painted in this book.
Children can use the page adjacent to colour in the animal portrayed in it.
Like any parent, Njeri began to pay attention to children’s books when her daughter Naomi was born, even when she was already a voracious reader. She interrogated the literature available for young Kenyan and African minds, looking for characters who looked like her daughter.
Most of what was available was different versions of Cinderella or Puss in Boots with few African authors available. Through reading to their children at bedtime, Njeri and her husband were able to take stock of what was available and realised there was a gap.
At the Kenya National Library where she would visit with the children, she found a large collection of children’s literature, some of it quite unique. Her instinct as a writer and content creator was, “I need to talk about these books” which she did on her pages and birthed her walk into the world of children’s literature.
As a performer, Njeri wondered how to work with storytelling as an event. To begin with, she registered Afrokidz, a social enterprise promoting the preservation and re-awakening of African indigenous languages so that they could be heard in everyday life.
Afrokidz literature club found a meeting place at Baraza media lab once a month. In these meetings, the children are engaged in performance in collaboration with Zamaleo storytellers while catching up on books, making it fun and engaging.
AfroKidz also invites different authors or notable Kenyans to share and read from different books. Eric Wainaina and Dennis Ombachi are among notable personalities who have engaged with the club.
Authors like Andia Chakava, Rebecca Nandwa, Jeannie Marima and Aleya Kassam have shared their writing journey with the children and special guests like Sahara Abdi spoke about her book titled My Brother With A Colourful Brain which delves into the world of neurodiversity.
At the beginning of 2024, having listened to many of these authors, Njeri toyed with the idea of writing poetry for children. She knew she could compose poems but soon realised writing for children needed simple language, often repetitive.
The inspiration for her colouring book came from a title she had picked at the library, which had illustrations of Kenyan communities. She borrowed the idea and put in several drafts to a publisher which synthesised to her current finished book.
It was at the last Afrokidz meeting in November that Njeri boldly announced that she would launch her book in February. Then she sat down and wondered, what did I just do? Her book had been marinating, but was in limbo having received deafening silence from the publisher she thought would bring her book to life.
The silence filled her with writer's dread and wondered if it was a reflection of her own failure writing for children. A conversation with another author made her decide to self-publish.
There are many colouring books available and much cheaper than My Colouring Book Of Rhymes. What sets Njeri’s apart is the narrative she weaves around each of the animals. It is an easy to read poetry book, perfect to create memorable reading times with children until the ages of 8. One can already imagine sitting with their children to run through the rhymes in the poems and offer a new way to learn about our animals.
Abdullahi Bulle, CEO of Nuria Store says there is a demand for children’s books right now but new authors must employ aggressive marketing strategies to get their books out.
Teachers are a primary audience as they get to propose the texts to their students and then there are parents who purchase the books.
On local talent, Bulle mentions that there has been a shift in the last couple of years with parents requesting for books written by local authors.
“We replaced the Peter and Jane series with the Jasiri and Zuri titles, published by Malezi publishers. The series is a good one as it is written in both English and Kiswahili and parents and students alike are purchasing them.”
Best sellers in the Nuria stable, these books are aimed at early to teen readers and included different grades of readership in each.
