This collection of folktales from South Africa has been put together the author says, not for scholarship but for a love of the sunny country where he was born. Some stories originate from Dutch sources, and some have several versions. Most are tales told by the bushmen.

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 220 In this 220th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the South African tale of why the African Honey Badger, or the Ratel (Raa-til), loves honey. The life of the honey badger is not an easy one. There is a lot of competition in the South African bush for scarce food resources, especially wild honey. So when a Honey Badger finds a fresh beehive, they are apt to raid it for all its worth. To this end Father Ratel has hidden his family’s stash of honey in a sack under his bed. It is brought out on occasion as a special treat for the young honey badgers to sample. But the family’s young son has sniffed out the stash and has been helping himself. His father suspects something is going on as his son has a decided whiff of honey about him all the time. So he asks his son where he is getting the honey from. His son tells him he is getting if from the Sweet Gum tree out there on the Savannah. But his father has never heard of a Sweet Gum tree, especially not one in this area of the veld (bush). He asks his son where this tree is so that he can check it out in the morning – which starts off a chain of events in which young ratel tries to recover the situation with predictable consequences. But is young ratel able to outfox his wily father? Download and read the full story here to find out what the eventual outcome was. 33% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities. INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps. Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories".

An African folktale in which various animals peacefully follow a honey guide bird, but find that sharing the honey among themselves causes problems.

While the rest of the world scratches its head, life in Zimbabwe lurches on one way or the other. Bookey Peek's sequel to her captivating book ALL THE WAY HOME takes us back to Stone Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, where comedy, tragedy and the antics of "the meanest animal in the world" make every day an experience. In WILD HONEY, Bookey takes the reader back to Stone Hills and the rich experiences this beautiful sanctuary offers. The history of the Matobo hills, daily life of the rangers and their experiences, confronting poachers, dealing with life and death, fighting bush fires and dealing with the loss of a family member to AIDS, to name a few. Poombi, the star of ALL THE WAY HOME, is still alive with her piglets which she successfully rears wild. But Poombi meets a tragic end leaving the Stone hill community bereft. Fortuitously, on a visit to their friends' taxidermy studio Bookey and Richard meet what will become their next Stone hills orphan and charmer; a noisy, smelly occupant of a shoe box - an orphaned honey badger or ratel as they are called in Zimbabwe. Described by Robert Ruark as 'the meanest animal in the world' this delightful little monster stole Richard and Bookey's hearts and minds, when his original owners asked them to take him over when they went on holiday. The story evolves as we follow Bookey's vain attempts to discipline and house train Badge; an animal with a mind of it's own. It is a tale of hilarity, charm and poignancy set against the menacing fear of land grabs, election intimidation and problems of daily living in Zimbabwe.

he story of what happened at Little Rock's Central High School in September of 1957 is one with which most Americans are familiar. Indeed, the image of Central High's massive double staircase--and of nine black teenagers climbing that staircase, clutching their schoolbooks, surrounded by National Guardsmen with fixed bayonets--has become wedded in the American consciousness to the history of the civil-rights struggle in this country. The world saw the drama at Central High as a cautionary tale about power and race. Drawing on oral histories, Beth Roy tells the story of Central High from a fresh angle. Her interviews with white alumni of Central High investigate the reasons behind their resistance to desegregation. The alumni, now near retirement age, discuss their lives since Central High and their present insecurities and resentments. The stories tell of the shaping of white identities in the latter half of the twentieth century, of dissatisfaction, even anger, that still lingers after forty years. Our country has not moved beyond matters of race: we have not left intolerance behind. To do so, Roy believes, we must stop demonizing people whose actions, historical or current, we do not fully understand. This elegantly written treatment of the Central High crisis is unique among studies done to date. It will help readers to better comprehend the complexity of racism, not only as it was evidenced at Central High in 1957, but as it continues to impact our lives today.