The Sense Pass King is a traditional folktale from Cameroon. Ma'antah was an extraordinary child and the people in her village thought she was very clever, with more sense than the king. So they called her the "Sense Pass King." she was only four-years-old. The King was very jealous and tried many ways to get rid of her. But each time she succeeded in thwarting his efforts. She helped the people in the village and over the years she became very popular, but the king was not happy. Then he made her come and live in the palace to control her. But she gave him advice, and when the king followed this advice, the villagers were happy. On a voyage across the see, she saves the king and the people on the boat by killing a monster. When they returned, the king told the villagers that he was the hero. His soldiers told the people the truth, and Ma'antah recevied the recognition she deserved.
A note from the author at the end of the books, says that her husband heard this story growing up from his mother. The original character was a boy, but the author decided to make her a girl to encourage girls to be brave and clever. The illustrations are done by Trina Schart Hyman. She uses bright watercolor images to depict the characters in the story and the setting in Cameroon. The culture and people in the images seem to be represented authentically. ( )

Sense Pass King is a story about a young boy from Cameroon that is hunted by the King, because he is far wiser than the King. Will the King be able to dim the light of this bright young boy? Read the story and find out!

I think that this is a great story! There is a lot of ways to foreshadow in the story and that is a great teaching point.

An activity that I would do with this story is a poetry assignment. I would have the students create acrostic poems using their names and personality traits. ( )

Terrific story, even more amazing pictures. Look at the expressions of the 'extras' in each scene, and at the all the animals, and costumes. I love the soldiers especially, even before the end when they were very minor characters, as they're so proud of their duty and their beauty. ( )

Sense Pass King is a delightful fable adapted from the traditional lore of northwestern Cameroon with a jealous king, a young princess, a trip to foreign lands and even a seven-headed sea monster thrown into the mix. The story is charming and the illustrations are fantastic. I love the richness of the colours and the attention to detail. ( )

I enjoyed this story for a few different reasons. One thing I liked about this folktale were the illustrations. I liked that the illustrations were bright and colorful and clearly depicted the story being told. I also liked that the author provided an authors note at the end of the story and informed the reader of the choices she made while writing the tale and how she heard it. I also liked that the author explained that she decided to change the main character to a girl, because she knew there were many other stories that had strong and smart boy charters.

The main message of this story is to learn how to work together instead of against on another, and how to use everyone strengths to make a better society. ( )