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![]() First edition | |
Author | Chinua Achebe |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Fiction |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Publication date | 1966 |
Publication place | Nigeria |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Pages | 64 pp |
Chike and the River is a children's story by Chinua Achebe. It was first published in South Africa in the year 1966 by Cambridge University Press, [1] with illustrations by Prue Theobalds, and was the first of several children's stories Achebe would write. The latest reprint has a cover design by Victor Ekpuk. [2] [3]
Chinua Achebe first published Chike and the River as a booklet in 1966 after his daughter started preschool in Nigeria and he noticed that most of the school texts for African children were written by Westerners.
It is the story of a Nigerian boy called Chike who leaves his village, Umuofia, to go and stay with his uncle in the big city of Onitsha. He has a lot of friends that made him thrilled when he meet and he was the only child to survive crossing the river. [4]
Reviewing a 2011 reprint of the book, New York Journal of Books said: "In Chike and the River, young readers get an intimate look at African life, learn about the Niger River, and connect with Chike as if he was their own sibling. The brilliance of Mr. Achebe’s prose is his ability to make a readers feel like an omniscient sprite on Chike’s shoulder: along for the ride and privy to all that he senses and sees." [5] [6]
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the "African Trilogy". Later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). In the West, Achebe is often referred to as the "father of African literature", although he vigorously rejected the characterization.
Things Fall Apart is the debut novel of Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958. It depicts the events of pre-colonial life in Igboland, a cultural area in modern-day southeastern Nigeria, and the subsequent appearance of European missionaries and colonial forces in the late 19th century. It is seen as an archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first such novels to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom in 1958 by William Heinemann Ltd and became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series.
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