Author Jane Kurtz: Writing about Ethiopia for Children
By Wendy Belcher
Ethiopian Review, April-June 2001
Jane Kurtz is a wonderful author who writes children’s books about Ethiopia. While she is read by many Americans and has won many writing awards, few Ethiopians know about her books. This is unfortunate, for her books are a wonderful resource for parents trying to introduce their children to Ethiopian culture.
American Jane Kurtz was born in Portland, Oregon, but when she was two years old, her parents moved to Ethiopia to work as Presbyterian missionaries for 23 years. Jane grew up in Maji, a small town in the southwest corner of the country. Since there were no televisions, radios, or movies, her memories are of climbing mountains, wading in rivers by the waterfalls, listening to stories, and making up her own stories, which she and her sisters acted out for days at a time.
When she was in fourth grade, she went to boarding school in Addis Ababa. Her family left Ethiopia in the late 1970s, but a decade later, first her brother and his family and then her older sister and her family went back to teach in a girls’ school in Addis Ababa.
By the time Jane came back to the U.S. for college, she felt there was no way to talk about her childhood home to people here. It took nearly twenty years to finally find a way-through her children’s books. Now she often speaks in schools and at conferences, sharing memories from her own childhood and bringing in things for the children to touch and taste and see and smell and hear from Ethiopia. “It’s been a healing and inspiring experience,” she says, “to re-connect with my childhood and also be able to help people know just a little of the beautiful country where I grew up.” Her first picture book was published in 1990. Since then, she has published one or two books every year-and hopes to publish many more. Many book reviewers highly recommend Jane’s books to parents looking for work that paints Africa and Ethiopia in a positive light.
Jane’s Books
Faraway Home, 2000, Fiction, Ages 4-8: As her father prepares for a trip back to his childhood home in Ethiopia, Desta begins to worry. Where does her father truly belongin the village of his youth or here in America with her? What was growing up in Ethiopia like? And will her father’s love for his family be enough to bridge these two worlds and bring him back to her? ” this picture book captures the immigrant experience when generations live far apart and even happy family life is mixed with longing for ‘back home.'”
Booklist
Only a Pigeon, 1997, Fiction, Ages 4-8: A boy in Addis Abeba, who works hard to earn money for his family by shining shoes, spends most of the time when he isn’t working or going to school caring for his pigeons, protecting them from the weasels and other creatures that creep through the dark. “Here, finally, is a picture book about an African boy who lives in a city. In well-crafted, sometimes lyrical language and visual images, his life is made very real.” School Library Journal
Pulling the Lion’s Tail, 1995, Fiction, Ages 4-8: In a story about dealing with grief and adjusting to a new family, Almaz goes looking for a way to gain her stepmother’s love and finds both patience and love. Almaz is a strong character who takes risks and finds her own way, while supported by her wise grandfather, and this story (based on an Ethiopian folktale) is full of the cultural details of life in Ethiopia. “Readers of all types will identify with Almaz’s longing for love and acceptance and someone to care for her.” Children’s Book Review Magazine
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For more information about Jane and her books, see her extensive website http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5232/index.html. Wendy Belcher, who resides in Los Angeles, is a regular contributor to Ethiopian Review.
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