THE BRIEF
Children's stories are all about teaching lessons through metaphors, proverbs, and parables; these stories can help children understand complex concepts and ultimately learn. We were tasked to make a children's book using a South African proverb that inspired our narrative and concept.
MY CONCEPT
This book is inspired by the Xhosa proverb "Ukukhula Kukbona Izinto" which translates as "To Grow Is To See Things". As children many of us learn from seeing others set examples. Often we develop a sense of self from seeing those we are similar to and the reaffirms our own sense of identity. As a child it is important to bee exposed to people who set examples for us and people we can see ourselves in. This story is about representation and learning from those who set good examples for us.
THE STORY
Finn is off to school for his first day his of school. He is very excited, and his mother wishes him.
Finn gets to school, and he begins to introduce himself to his classmates.
“Hey Finn has a red tail” says the one kid.
The other kids start to notice and point.
Finn starts to blush, and his cheeks turn red.
“Now his face is red too, his face matches his tail.” The kids start to laugh and Finn runs away.
When Finn goes home, he is very upset.
“Why does nobody else have a red tail like me?” Finn asked his mom.
“You are not the only one my love.” says Finn’s mom.
“But mom even you don’t have a red tail.” Finn says crying.
“Finn, there are people like you and even though I am not like you, you are not alone. You should not worry about it, you were born this way and nobody is born wrong.” Finn’s mom kisses his head and puts him to bed.
The next day Finn puts mud in his tail to make it brown.
“I don’t want to have a red tail” yells Finn as he rubs mud in his tail that makes his fur matt and knot.
He continues on his way to school and he sees a mighty lion with a bright red tail. He run up to lion excited to meet him.
“Mr. Lion, Mr. Lion, look, look. I have a red tail too” says Finn to the lion very excitedly. The lion looks at Kairo and is confused.
“But your tail is brown” says the lion, looking at Finn’s tail covered in mud.
“Oh this is just mud” says Finn, and takes the mud off of the end of his tail.
“Why would you cover your tail, my red tail is my pride. What if someone else with a red tail was looking for someone like them and saw you and couldn’t see your tail.” Says the lion to Finn.
Finn a little ashamed, he promises to wear his tail with pride. Finn leaves feeling grateful he met the lion who taught him to be proud of his red tail.
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