Katie QuirkReseñas

The controversial decision by a village elder to move Shida’s Tanzanian village to another village causes unexpected problems for its residents, leaving them caught between modernization and tradition. Shida, hopeful for the opportunity of an education, must reassure the villagers after numerous unfortunate events

A thirteen-year-old comes of age in a rural village in a newly independent Tanzania in the early 1960s.

Growing up with traditional village values in 1967 just after the independence, Shida, has to reconcile the modern and the traditional. Her name means Problem in Swahili, and she does have problems. Her father is dead and her mother refuses to participate in life, spending most of her time in the hut sleeping and cursing Problem for not doing enough. She is surrounded by family and when her grandfather, the village leader decides to support the new government of Tanzania by moving to a new village to be close to schools and medicine as well as create a community garden where all will help. Shida is delighted to be able to go to school and to work with the nurse, for she has the ability to become a healer. When her opportunity to go to school and the village gardens are destroyed, she has to confront what people see as a curse by a witch. The death of her young cousin from malaria brings the conflict of old witchcraft and new medicine to a climax and shows her that she should not give up her goal of being a healer. Excellent view of Tanzanian history. Middle School book.

I really liked A Girl called Problem. Though Shida’s culture was new to me, I found it all fascinating, mostly because of the stark difference between her life in 1967 and mine. I cannot image harvesting all the family’s food, living in a one room home—let alone a hut made of mud and cow dung—not being allowed to attend school, and being expected to learn chores in anticipation of a marriage where the man ruled. Litongo is a very patriarchal society and Shida does not fit in. That is the problem, not that Shida is the problem.

Shida sees all of this as normal but wants to change. She wants to learn, to become a great healer, and to have a career before she has a family. Luckily,
Shida has someone to look up to in Nurse Goldfilda. When things get bad, especially with two bullies, Shida hangs tough and helps her cousins do the same. I like her determination and spunk. When provoked, I think she has a fiery temper that can help change occur.
Shida is a good role model for young girls. She is living in a society where women are second-class citizens with limited opportunities, yet she goes after what she wants, unwilling to give up her dreams. A Girl Called Problem is about Shida’s life, her determination in odds that stack against her. It is a family story. Most of the people in Litongo are related to some degree. This extended family cares for each other in a way not often seen today. I think kids will be impressed with the way all these family members stay together.

A Girl Called Problem is a story both boys and girls will enjoy. I think adults will love this story, as did I. The author based her story on the real Tanzania, the Sukuma people, and her time in Africa. A Girl Called Problem is a middle grade novel kids will learn much from and enjoy. The villagers speak two languages, Swahili and Sukuma—glossary in back—live in an age of witches and curses, and are building a country from the ground up. Not yet born, middle grade kids may think the stark African conditions of 1967 were normal “for so long ago.” This is a perfect book for school libraries and the study of cultures.

A Girl Called Problem is an uplifting story of hope and possibility. It will keep you mesmerized until the very end. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. Mostly, it will make you think. A Girl called Problem is one of those stories that will stay with you long after you’ve read the last word.
(Received from publisher in exchange for a review)
Original review at Kid Lit Reviews: http://kid-lit-reviews.com/2013/06/05/review-a-girl-called-problem-by-katie-quir...

A Girl Called Problem
By Katie Quirk
2013, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
(Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
Review by Debra L Scott, 4/28/2013

Katie Quirk offers an intriguing look into the culture of girls and women in the Tanzania of 1967. It is a time of change in Africa, where the traditions held sacred by the ancestors, and defined by a world that exists only as far as the daily life of the village of Litongo, are challenged by the growing awareness of what may be just beyond that world.

Shida was born as a Problem, for that is what her name means in Swahili. The only child born to a widowed mother, Shida grows up with extra responsibilities that make life difficult. However the spunky young girl accepts what she must do without complaint. She longs to be a healer, and gathers what knowledge she can from the old women and medicine men, but the medicine men will not take her as an apprentice because she is a girl. Nevertheless, she wears her pouch of herbs at her waist and many call on her when sickness strikes.

The new president of Tanzania seeks to bring reforms to all the people. As part of this program, a nurse now comes once a month to the village from a neighboring town with modern medicines. Shida shadows her as well, wanting to learn this new way of healing. But today, the nurse brings a startling message: the people of Litongo are being asked to move to the bigger village nearby so that they can share the precious resources of healthcare and education with their neighbors. To most of the village, this is frightening, but to Shida it is a dream come true.

Quirk tells the compelling story of this struggle of a village gathering the courage to break with the traditions of their ancestors and risk losing their unique and comfortable life. Although a place is made for them in Nija Panda, they face resentment from the townspeople. Who will get the best farmland, and who only deserves the poorest soil?

When bad things begin to happen, it seems to be a sign they made the wrong decision. The challenges bring their suspicions and prejudices into sharp focus. Surely the Witch put a curse on them all, or the Ancestors are angry and have deserted them. Girls should not have been allowed to go to school. The old medicine man who stayed behind must have the answers, not the new young one. Shida feels there must be another answer and, with her cousin Grace, turns sleuth to find the real reasons for the troubles.

I quite liked this story. There is an acceptance of the village traditions and animist beliefs as important to their way of life, and one cannot but feel empathy for the different characters who feel threatened by the rapid changes they must endure. I spent my adolescent years in third world countries, as my father was in the Peace Corps. It is such a valuable thing to understand a completely different culture from their viewpoint, rather than our myopic American bias. Quirk worked in Tanzania for two years, and her love for the country and its people is more than evident. I hope many young readers will choose to explore this glimpse into a culture that is fast vanishing from our planet.

(This review is based on a Reader's Advance Copy)

A coming of age book about a 13 year old girl from Tanzania. This book gives Shida, Problem in Swahili, a strong voice as her village moves as part of President Nyerere's plan of village relocation. While a young adult book, the story is engaging and well-developed enough for readers of all ages.

Shida must face a variety of trials, including the fact that going to school is unheard of for girls her in village. There's also the problem that the villager feels that they are cursed for moving and should return to their own homes.

The glossary and background information at the back of the book can serve as a strong resource as well. Katie Quirk did an excellent job researching and putting together this work of realistic fiction. I look forward to reading more of her writing.½

“A Girl Called Problem” is a story about a 13 year old girl, Shida, who lives in a tribal village in Tanzania in 1967. Shida means problem in Swahili and problems certainly seem to follow Shida. Upon the request of the new President of Tanzania, the elders of the village have agreed to move to a nearby village and work as one extended family to improve their lives. Shida is thrilled with the new adventure and with the prospect of going to school. Once in the new village, there are a number of strange incidents. Many of the villagers believe the village is cursed and want to return to their old village. Shida doesn’t want to believe this and tries to find out what or who is causing all the bad luck. I would recommend this book to any young reader. The language made me feel I was in the village and part of the story.

This well written and tightly plotted book follows the story of Shida, a young Sukuma woman, as she experiences some of the cultural and political shifts occurring in mid-1960s Tanzania. Quirk does an excellent job of introducing what will be to most readers a very unfamiliar setting in a very natural and non-obtrusive fashion, and her imagery is vivid and engaging. The trials Shida faces both in her everyday life and due to her clan's move to a government-mandated village are adroitly presented, without unnecessary melodrama or colonialistic commentary.

Shida's story is sure to draw readers in and keep their interest with its many plot turns and surprises; Quirk does a great job of keeping readers on their toes as to whether their assumptions are correct or not. More impressively, her characters don't fall into easy stereotypes, e.g. the infallible old shaman, the firebrand feminist reformer, but are a blend of good and bad characteristics--in other words, real people. Thanks to its emphasis on telling a good story and avoidance of the overly pedantic or preachy, A Girl Called Problem is a thoroughly enjoyable book that will likely encourage many young readers to learn more about Tanzania.

Shida is a thirteen year old girl finds herself coming of age at the same time as her country, Tanzania. Both Shida and Tanzania are trying to find their place in the new world and face the difficult challenge of blending the old with the new.
The elders in Shida’s village make the decision to move to a nearby village a decision that may thrill Shida but is not welcomed by all. After the village moves a series of bad fortune plagues Shida’s people and has some villagers wondering if the ancestors or maybe even the local witch have cursed them. However, Shida and her cousin Grace are not ready to give up the education and other opportunities offered by their new village and are determined to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings.
The author does a good job of engaging young readers without talking down to them, presenting for their consideration a series of important themes such as women’s education, acceptance, and the place of science vs. the place of tradition. The story’s resolution is both unexpected and fitting, a pleasant combination. My only request would be that there be an early reference to to glossary in the back (I did not find it until the end) and that the glossary include a pronunciation guide.

Shida is a thirteen-year-old girl in a Tanzanian village in 1967. President Nyerere has recommended that the entire village move to incorporate with another and that they work together to provide food, education, and health care. Shida's life has been difficult so far, and a move isn't likely to fix that, although it may provide her with new opportunities. Readers will cheer Shida's successes and struggle with her as she solves the mysteries of the curses on her and her neighbors.

When I first saw the title of the book I thought that it would be very much like the book "A Girl Named Disaster". I was right in that it is a coming of age story for a young girl from Africa, but I was pleasantly surprised by its differences. A girl Called Problem is a great book for young readers. It has great imagery and language and tells the story of a girl (Shida) who is struggling to find out her place in the world. Society is telling her that she can not go to school or become a nurse or healer and that she should instead focus on marriage because she is a girl, but her heart is telling her that she can. This book has adventure a little mystery and a great example of perseverance and determination. I would recommend this book for any middle school classroom. It even has a glossary to help with the incorporated swahili terms (which make the book that much more interesting).½

A great book for younger readers. I'm glad I took a class on African culture recently so I was able to understand a bit of what was going on. The plot was good and I liked the idea of the struggle these girls had to go through to be able to go to school in a new village that didn't encourage education for females. Story shows how unreliable superstition can be and added a bit of mystery. I liked the character of the older woman accused of being a witch.

Set during Tanzanian leader, President Nyerere's era, a thirteen-year-old girl named Shida is the main character in this coming-of-age novel. A wide range of topics are covered within this story-line: trust, feminism, equality, perseverance, acceptance, and diversity. Shida's village is asked to relocate as their country's president is determined to bring patriotism and camaraderie throughout the country. After Shida's village consolidates with a neighboring village, strange events begin to occur and tragedy strikes. Rumors and theories start swirling about what or who could be causing, what feels like, a cursed community. This engaging story keeps you guessing until the end what the motive of such sabotage would be.

I got this book free from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

Set in a newly independent Tanzania in the early 1960s, this is an excellent coming-of-age story that will interest middle-school readers. Tanzania became a socialist republic under their first president, Julius Nyrere (something I knew already, because I did a report on the country back in the sixth grade) and he encouraged the people to try collective farming. Thus, young Shida's tribal village packed up and moved to another village nearby. They shared their fields and a new infirmary, and the children of the village began going to school for the first time in their lives.

But strange things started happening: the children's clothes were disappearing, someone let all the cows out of their corral, and the cotton crop inexplicably failed overnight. Some of the villagers believe their town is cursed and they ought to return to their old village, but Shida is convinced that a human is behind all these inexplicable events, someone who's trying to scare them into leaving. With help from her cousins, the local nurse and her benevolent grandfather Babu, she tries to figure out what's going on. Is it perhaps one of the schoolteachers, who's dead set against female education? Maybe the nasty boy at school, the son of a prominent member of the old village, who keeps bullying her? The strange old woman that many people call a witch? The author does a good job keeping up the suspense. I didn't guess who the perpetrator was, but when I found out I wasn't a bit surprised -- which is how it should be.

I'd recommend this book for any middle-school classroom, perhaps as part of a unit on Africa. The author includes a helpful glossary in the back and some photographs.

In 1967 Tanzania, when President Nyerere urges his people to work together as one extended family, the people of Litongo move to a new village which, to some, seems cursed, but where thirteen-year-old Shida, a healer, and her female cousins are allowed to attend school. Includes glossary and author's note.