The Litany of The Nigerian Pre-Schooler

I love reading books. I like the colorful ones best because they show pictures of different things. My mom bought me a big book as my birthday present last year. It has pictures of animals and flowers and things I see around the house. My mom told me that when I go to school, I will have plenty of books to read. I was excited!

Yesterday was my first day of school. When teacher gave us our school books I was surprised – all letters and no colorful pictures! They look like big people’s books, only with bigger prints. I was not excited anymore. I felt sleepy when teacher was reading it with us.

We had visitors when I got home from school. My mummy’s sister’s daughter, my cousin, Gloria, was excited to show me her books. She is a preschooler in another school. Her books were lovely! They had beautiful and colorful drawings and I could even see mascots and sing along CDs. My aunt said they were Pinwheel books. She mentioned something about colorful books being important to children’s education.

Now I am really sad. I wish my books were as beautiful as my cousin’s. Maybe I should throw a tantrum to change to Gloria’s school.