The Village of Round and Square Houses - multicultural book

Author - Ann Grifalconi
Illustrator - same
Publisher - Little, Brown and Company, 1986.
Page #'s - 32
Rating - 3.5/5

The Village of Round and Square Houses is the tale of a real village deep in Central Africa. The author was taken there by a homesick member of the village. The village, Tos, is eight hours beyond any road and next to a live volcano. The volcano erupted one day, and everyone ran for their lives. All that remained was a round house and a square house. The people were covered in ash and the Chief told the tall things to go to the square house and round gray things to go to the round house. And that was how it remained in peace. The women live in the round and the men in the square.

This book is an interesting look at a different way of life. This village is so remote and unique, that many people would never get to hear about it, if it were not for this great book. The story and pictures do a great job of showing what everyday life is like in the village. It introduces words in their language as well. The pictures are down with pastels and have a very spiritual style. It also won a Caldecott award for the artwork. This is a great book to teach children about different cultures.