DAY 19 OF AMADI'S SNOWMAN GLOBAL VIRTUAL TOUR

Hello, this is Amadi ! How is everyone? I hope you like this blog tour as much as I do. It is a big joy to read all the reviews from people who love the book, and to discover why, and what it is they love the most. It is a great adventure. 

So, today, we continue our blog visits and return to The Well Read Child for an interview with Mama Katia. 

And when you come back, you can see and read...

... a letter I received from Italy. Yes, yes, Italia, Europe. I have three friends there and look at the beautiful letter they sent me. 

As it is in Italian, and I don't speak that language (I speak Igbo and English only), their mother translated it for me.

Jambo ! (Hello in Kiswahili)

Dear Amadi, we are three sisters, Florin, Aisha and Shali, and we are half Kenyan. Our father is Kenyan and our mum was born in Rome-Italy. Usually, our mum reads us stories. Do you like listening to stories? My mum told us that still nowadays in small villages around Africa there are storytellers who continue to transmit their traditional stories. Our parents taught us to build toys using recycled stuff and we enjoy it. What are your favorite toys and games? Do you also build them yourself? Would you like to travel and see other countries? We'd like to go to Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco and India. How is your house? Do you like animals? We love them and we have a cat, Matisse. What are the most important feasts at your village? We enjoyed reading your story because when we learned how to read, we discovered that it is adventurous and makes us travel without moving. Thanks to Mama Katia, we've been to Nigeria and we have met you!

Kwaheri (Bye Bye in Kishwahili)

Signed : Florin Mwaniki (the wise one), Aisha Mwananna (long life), and Shali Mwanalulu (pearl) in Lerici, Italy.

And that was our picture today for our feature "Where in the world is Amadi?" Continue to send us photos of your children reading Amadi's Snowman at katianovet@gmail.com.

Please, see below my letter to my friends in Italy. 

Dear Florin, Aisha and Shali, 

Kedu ! And thank you for your letter. I'm happy that you like our book, and even more happy that you want to visit our great country of Nigeria. I have grown a lot since Mama Katia started writing my story and now I'm really an Igbo man of Nigeria - no longer just a boy. So I don't play as much as before. But I remember that more than anything, I loved chasing lizards and trying to catch bush rabbits. They are grass-cutters, even though Mama Katia says they look like long rats, and we love to eat them. I also played with seeds. But going to the market was always the best. It is good that your parents taught you to recycle objects and make toys with them. Now that I have traveled to be with Mama Katia and Mama Dimitrea, I see that in other countries, they have lots of toys, and there is a lot of waste, too. As we don't have much money, we try to use things as long as they have some use for us. Of course, I also wish we would be a little cleaner in Nigeria, rather than using our roads as garbage dumps. I often scold the children in our village when I see them throwing their wastes everywhere, and I tell them to pick it up. They don't like it, but they must obey me, because I'm their elder. I still live with my mother, and we have two rooms in our house. It is quite comfortable. We have many festivals, but the most important ones are the New Yam festival, in August, and the Masquerades (Mmanwu) in November. Our traditional weddings and funerals are also great ceremonies with lots of dancing, singing, and eating. If you ever come to Igboland, please come and knock on our door and I will be your guide.

Kodi (Bye in Igbo). Signed : your friend, Ifeanyi Amadi.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read." Abraham Lincoln

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Tomorrow, we go to On My Bookshelf for a review and a giveaway, and we return to my hometown of Enugu, in Nigeria, for another school visit. See you then...