ImageNations

Virginia W. Dike's Birds of Our Land  (Cassava Republic Press, 2010 (first pub., 1986); 40) is an illustrative and colourful book on birds found in Nigeria and by extension, perhaps, across West Africa. This carefully written book provides insights into the habitat, habit, identification, and nature of several birds including the Plantain Eater, Parrot, Kite, Sunbird, Egret, Finch, Guinea Fowl, Crow, Coucal, Owl, Pipit, Mannikin, Whydah, Thrush, Kingfish, Roller and more. The book is directed towards young children, probably between the ages of five and fifteen; however, adults could learn a lot from if for how many of us know the birds we have been seeing by name. However, through the clear picturesque illustration by Robin Gowen one is able to identify several of these known birds by name and description. The book opens with a definition of a bird accompanied by a well-labelled illustration. Following from there is a brief description of the birds, systematically, with eac...

SYNOPSIS When the author moved to Nigeria in the early 1970s with her young family, she discovered that Nigeria has so many fascinated birds that she wanted to share with her children and other children.  But she couldn’t find books on Nigerian or West African birds.  Instead, the bookshops had lots of books about birds from the United States and Britain.  This gave birth to  Birds of Our Land* , a child’s guide to West African birds with the aim of introducing children to some of the many fascinating birds around them. It explains the basic features of birds and key things to note in observing them and is accompanied by beautiful paintings by illustrator Robin Gowen of 25 birds representing the major species in the region. Most of these are birds that children are likely to come across in most parts of West Africa, while a few are less familiar but amazing in some way. Through its rich, poetic descriptions  Birds of Our Land  offers children a ga...