STARRED Book Review: The Bundu Bunch Get to Write Their Names

Reviewed by Toni Woodruff

A tearjerker of companionship & pride

Kids’ books come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. Board books, picture books, rhyming books, not-rhyming ones; funny, informative, fables. Our kids are unique and smart and ready to explore topics their parents haven’t even thought of yet. 

When I’m picking out books for my kids, I want variety. Sometimes we want to learn, sometimes we want to laugh; other times, we should break new ground, widen the world, help them understand (or at least start to) how important certain things are to certain people. In the case of the orphans in the Bundu Bunch, the things that are most important are finding water nearby and owning their identity.

Every day Sipho, his sister Jabu, and their fellow orphan Monica have to walk far down the hill to get to the river, where they fill up their buckets and return them to their hut on the far side of the village. It’s a long trek under a scorching sun, and, unfortunately, they have to pass by groups of other kids who insult them. 

“Can a donkey write its name?”

When the kids return to their hut, their kind caretaker Aiyasha talks to them about the incident but relays what the orphans already know: it’s just too difficult to have a lesson at the end of their long, hot, arduous days. 

But this book is a story of success. 

One of the orphans, Jacob, adopts an injured mongoose as a pet and ventures over to a nearby mountain, only to discover a clean water source and a miraculous way to get back their hours spent trekking down the hill. Saving time means making time for something new—something to be proud about.

This is the type of book to clutch to your chest after reading. You’ll want to hug it (and them) after knowing all they’ve gone through and what they can still achieve in the face of it.  Sure it might be a quiet achievement to some, but how important is a name to those who feel like they have no control of their identity?

I appreciate the conversation this book inspires, but it is a conversation you should be prepared for. I don’t know how often you’ve spoken with your children about kids losing their parents to a disease like AIDS, but if you’re going to have a conversation about weighty material like that, you’re going to want to choose the right book. 

You’re going to want to choose this one.

The Bundu Bunch… also does a great job discussing how claiming community, even just a small group like the three of them, can bring people closer together. When Jabu decides that they will be called the Bundu bunch, it’s a random thought in the middle of a hot working day. It’s a revelation, saying, “This is not great! But at least we have each other.” I love the idea of my kid becoming part of their own bunch thanks to this book.

This story is replete with specifics that make the setting come alive. From un-translated Zulu words to native food like mealie pap, readers from the area will feel catered to while readers unfamiliar with the area will feel like they’re spending time in a real world adjacent to their own.

This kids’ book is about as impactful as it comes for those kids and parents ready to talk about loss, aloneness, togetherness, and the importance of claiming a name. 

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Thank you for reading Toni Woodruff’s book review of The Bundu Bunch Get to Write Their Names by Allan Low! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.