LADUMA

Written by Nompumelelo Zama and illustrated by Elton Leeman, the story follows Peter a young dog who dreams of becoming a soccer champion. However, what stands between him and his dream is the fact that he does not have soccer boots. Peter’s father negotiates with him to clean their yard in order for him to get new soccer boots. As the story progresses we see Peter going through channels of temptation, however, he continues keeping his eye on the price.
The theme of this story is very relevant to a South African audience considering that we are a soccer-loving nation before a child explores a lot of things, soccer is one of them. Apart from soccer, this is a story on the importance of dreaming, working towards your dream, discipline, self-belief and unity or working in a collective.

Through the story we learn that one should be determined to work hard for what they really want and dream of no matter the challenges. As Peter takes on the task of cleaning the yard, we see being tempted to watch TV and go play with his friends, because the soccer boots meant he will be closer to his dreams, we see Peter being determined and at the end, he is assisted by his friends in doing the work. In the end, Peter is becoming a soccer star like many of the people he follows.

With 23 pages, this is an inspiring story for children. Each page is gentle to the eye with a white background that makes reading the imprinted words easier. It also has playful drawings which make it fun to read.
It also interesting that Peter is a dog, a dog who cleans and do other human activities such as playing soccer, this sparks an important imagination on how children reading the story might view themselves. More like ‘if a dog can do it so can I.’
This story is suitable for foundation phase, intermediate and senior phase can enjoy and learn from it as well.