Little Hare Stories – Big Trouble at the River will be available online – courtesy of an international book publishing company called Xlibris – before being printed. He said his reasons for writing the book were to cultivate a love of reading among pupils and teach them lifeskills.
The book is about Mother Warthog and her little son, Baby Warthog, who attempt to cross a dangerous river. As they swim across, a big crocodile attacks them and forces the Mother Warthog to swim back while her son makes it across.
The mother is overwhelmed with grief as the crocodile prevents her from reuniting with her son. Little Hare volunteers to reunite the two, as no-one else is eager to take up the challenge. Through sheer bravery and cunningness, the hare successfully reunites the two.
Chihombori, who grew up reading cartoon books himself, said he started working on the animal story in 2004.
He finished working on the illustrations and text in 2007, before he put the project to one side. The talented writer intended to self-publish the book but couldn’t afford the cost.
In 2013, Chihombori revised the animal book text before he sent it for publishing.
This marks his first English published cartoon book targeted at children, though he previously worked on a collection of cartoons in 1998 titled Gringo Auya, which were published in the local press.
“I must say cartoon books helped me to develop an interest in reading books. Most, if not all, cartoon books we read as kids were not published locally or done by local artists and writers. Being a cartoonist, I decided to try and have a locally published cartoon book,” he said.
“This book can be read by adults, but it’s meant for primary pupils. I felt it could be a good reader for children who might need encouragement in reading. I think, it can help foster a reading culture in kids as it has illustrations that should easily capture their attention and interest.”
Chihombori revealed that he is currently working on more Gringo cartoons, which will be compiled into a book expected to be published soon.
“This book will contain new Gringo jokes, which have never been published in any newspaper. I started working on the new Gringo cartoons early last year and hopefully, by the end of February, I will be through with them,” he said.
The Gringo Troublemaker writer lamented that, while it was difficult to work on cartoons, the marketing and selling of the material was the biggest challenge.
“I am told books are also being pirated in the streets of Harare. Schoolbooks are the main targets and this has greatly affected school textbook publishers. My greatest fear is that my books will also be pirated,” he said.
Post published in: Arts