Coming of age stories are a often visited theme in young adult and even middle grades literature. It is not a common theme in picture books, however. Forthcoming from Catalyst Press, Wankijũ, Child of Mine is a picture book bildungsroman of a Kenyan girlhood. Like other titles from Catalyst Press, it gives pride of place to the experiences of children from the African continent. Author Ciikũ Ndũng’ũ-Case is a nonprofit leader in California and based this beautiful and moving book on her own childhood in Kenya.

As the book opens, Wankijũ is still abed with her grandmother in the Kenyan countryside. Soon it is time for morning chores. One of the younger children, she works hard to bring water to the cows from the river. While the older children and adults are getting ready for school and work, Wankijũ asks her grandmother to again tell her the story of “where her name comes from.” The young girl is named for one of the nine daughters of Gikũyũ and Mũmbi, the mother and father of the Gĩkũyũ, or Kikuyu, people. Wankijũ loves to hear this story. She loves to hear of who she is and who her people are. Here and throughout the text, Wankijũ asserts her identity as a Gĩkũyũ, no matter where she goes.

As the book progresses, Wankijũ attends school in Nairobi. Away from a large extended family of cousins, aunts, uncles, and her grandmother, Wankijũ now lives with her Mama, Baba, and Wangarĩ, their maid. Wangarĩ is also named for a daughter of Gikũyũ and Mũmbi, and not only is she Wankijũ’s main caregiver, she provides a vital connection to their shared Gĩkũyũ identity. While she now has access to running toilets and electricity, Wankijũ misses going barefoot, and even being called by her name. In Nairobi, she goes by Catherine.

As a teenager, Wankijũ attends boarding school, “high near the rice plantations.” Wankijũ is a school prefect, and she takes her responsibility seriously. While she loves the diversity among her classmates, at the end of her school day she seeks out the other Gĩkũyũ girls. They speak in their mother tongue, and some of them are also named for one of the daughters of Mũmbi. Here Wankijũ is Wankijũ again. She has come full circle.

The text is divided up into chapters of sorts, each focusing on a stage of Wankijũ’s formative years. There is absolutely no law that says one must finish a picture book in one sitting; breaking up a book into smaller vignettes is helpful for children with shorter attention spans during read-alouds, or for children learning to read independently. The illustrations by Karen Vermeulen are colorful and child-appealing. I got a kick out of the long lashes on the cows kept by Wankijũ’s grandmother, and the scenes set in the Kenyan countryside and Nairobi in particular are full of details one can pore over.

There are also several pages of back matter in the book, including a Gĩkũyũ glossary and a condensed version of the Gĩkũyũ creation story for which the protagonist is named. There are even instructions for a seek and find game using the endpapers.

Wankijũ, Child of Mine deserves to be included in both school and public libraries. Again, children need books about all kinds of children. Readers from all sorts of backgrounds (including in my own extended family) share journeys similar to Wankijũ, moving from the countryside to the city as they progressed in their schooling. This book is a model for the importance of telling and retelling children the stories of who they are and where they come from, providing them a foundation that will serve them well throughout their lives.

Title:  Wankijũ, Child of Mine

Written by Ciikũ Ndũng’ũ-Case

Illustrated by Karen Vermeulen

Catalyst Press, 2024

ISBN: 9781960803016

Awards: Children’s Book Council Spring Showcase Selection, 2024, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

You can purchase this book here.*

Find this book at a library.

Reviews: no other reviews found

*Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission at no cost to you.

Klem-Marí Cajigas has been with Nashville Public Library since 2012, after more than a decade of academic training in Religious Studies and Ministry. As the Family Literacy Coordinator for Bringing Books to Life!, Nashville Public Library’s award-winning early literacy outreach program, she delivers family literacy workshops to a diverse range of local communities. In recognition of her work, she was named a 2021 Library Journal “Mover and Shaker.” Born in Puerto Rico, Klem-Marí is bilingual, bicultural, and proudly Boricua.