Jambo Means Hello: A Swahili Alphabet Book

A different mood and place are realistically yet idealistically created by Tom Feelings in Jambo Means Hello.  The text is a straightforward, brief explanation of the Swahili word chosen for each of the twenty-four letters.  The illustrations, double-page spreads, create a picture of village life in East Africa, where Swahili is the language of 45 million people.  If "learning a language opens up many things to us," as Muriel Feelings states in her introducing, her husband's paintings also enlarge the world of the person who looks at them.  An idealistic world it may be, but the qualities of simplicity, beauty, warmth, and dignity interpreted in the paintings are surely present in African life and will subtly but definitely influence all who take the time to enjoy Jambo Means Hello.