Children’s literature and the realities of social and cultural conditions: A perspective on Niki Daly’s <i>Not so fast Songololo</i>

Abstract

Children’s literature is the body of written works and accompanying illustrations to entertain or instruct young people. This literature is shaped to address children’s needs at their level of understanding. The needs of children embrace their imaginative world and daily environment. These needs differ from one society to another, and are guided by the social and cultural conditions of the society in which the children live. An experienced author of children’s literature will always consider the social and cultural backgrounds of the children for whom the book is to be written. Not so fast Songololo (Daly, 1985) is a book written during the apartheid era by a white South African author, Niki Daly, with African children in mind. It is presumed that many non-African authors of children’s literature, like Daly, struggle to accommodate African culture in their books. This article aims to examine the validity of this statement.

South African Journal of African Languages 2013, 33(1): 39–43