Tales My Ghanaian Grandmother Told Me by Dzagbe Cudjoe

"Tales My Ghanaian Grandmother Told Me" consists of four stories: "The Wicked Curse of Nibobobo", "Akua's Foolish Wish", "Fingers of Fire" and "Journey to the Chest of Gold".

"The Wicked Curse of Nibobobo" opens with the inhabitants of the village holding a dance by moonlight. The young hero of the story slips way. He is in love. He plans to ask the girl's father for permission to marry her.Her parents are delighted to give their consent but the hero's own father forbids the relationship.

This decision has catastrophic consequences as the girls mother commits a terrible act which affects all the villagers. Our hero accompanied by two young friends sets out on a dangerous journey into the unknown to rectify the situation.

"Akua's Foolish Wish" explains the possible origins of a taboo. Akua, a young potter unthinkingly expresses a wish not realizing her power to make it come true. This results in inanimate objects having the power of speech and a very fraught situation develops in the village.

After much time and effort Akua is able to solve the problem.

"Fingers of Fire" is a story about a very unusual boy who has mysterious powers. He receives instructions to build a very strange object though he does not know what it's purpose is. He is assisted in all his endevours by a young girl who lives in the same household.

When finally the strange object is revealed it completely changes the lives of the villagers.

"Journey to the Chest of Gold" tells the story of a trip by a party of schoolchildren and their teacher to learn about the Gold Trade in West Africa. The group travel back through time and enter the King's Palace. There they learn about the weights used for measuring gold dust and gold nuggets.

To the horror of the group their presence in forbidden territory is discovered and they flee from the past back to the present.

All four stories are linked by being set in Ghana in times past. I am an ethnologist and my background facts and descriptions are accurate. Despite the title these stories are not traditional tales retold. They are genuinely my own creation. Traditional tales were narrated by the Story Teller. I have written mine in this style. "Written with extraordinary vision and creative insight, Cudjoe’s stories capture the essence of a proud people with clarity and a distinct voice that lulls the reader to a culture steeped in mystique, legend, and centuries-old beliefs." Ellen Green — PressManager AEG Publishing Group, Inc.

"Tales My Ghanaian Grandmother Told Me by Dzagbe Cudjoe is overall a well written collection of stories. The Author shows imagination and creativity , a natural story-teller. I would recommend this book for children age 9 and up.

A very nice dedication to the author’s father included, and the book design was excellent."

About the reviewer: Teresa Aguilar is a stay-at-home mom who lives near Lake Fork in Emory, Texas. Married for over 17 years with three children, the whole family shares a interest in books of all genres. She aspires to own a book shop of her own one day. Her time is spent raising her children and her miniature dachshunds and one orange tabby cat. She also tries to grow trees in clay, and finally having some success, maybe to have some shade in the future to read under. She would also like to say thank you to her cousin Jeanneta who read “The Hobbit” to her when she was a small child and started her love affair with books. About the Author: Dzagbe Cudjoe has a Masters of Arts in Ethnology from the University of Munich, Germany. She has worked at the Ghana National Museum & University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Ms. Cudjoe is a member of the World Federation of Healing and has worked with children with severe physical and / or learning disabilities, using dance and movement therapy to help with rehabilitation. She lives in El Puerto de Santa Maria in Andalusia, Spain. Tales my Ghanaian Grandmother Told Me is her first book.