Title: The Prize Giving Day
Author: Pamela Chinenye Obasi
Publisher: University of Abuja Press
Place of Publication: Abuja
Date of Publication: 2020
Number of Pages: 31
Reviewer: Somtochukwu Anijekwu
Introduction
A children’s book is a very important asset in the upbringing of children in the family. The Prize Giving Day is one such asset that any parent particularly mothers should acquire for their children. The publication of this book written by Pamela Obasi is a welcome development in the early upbringing of children.
Structure and Contents of the chapters
The book is made up of seven chapters. It also contains a section on moral lessons, questions and vocabulary of key words in the story. The book is a powerful and contrasting story of two young primary school girls namely Laura and Doris.
Laura is a 10-year-old girl who lived with her parents in Duke Town, Calabar. It was her parents dream to provide the best education for their daughter even though they could barely afford it. Laura was known to be a brilliant child in school and her parents were proud of her.
Doris came from a wealthy family and attended the same school with Laura. They were both in Primary 5. Doris didn’t take her studies seriously but only told stories about her father’s wealth in school. Doris never liked Laura because she was very brilliant and always represented the class at school competition. She envied Laura rather than putting in more hard work in her education.
There was a Prize Giving Day celebration anticipated by the whole school. Every student looked forward to that special day. The State Government had a scholarship programme for selected schools with outstanding students. The best student in each school selected, would receive the award. This motivated Laura to study hard, as she was so happy and discussed with her friends on who the lucky winner would be. Out of jealousy, Doris kept working hard to deprive Laura from getting the scholarship. But did she succeed?
Importance of the book
The Price Giving Day is a very interesting and motivational work that would be of great interest to the children. It is therefore a must read owing to its vivid portrayal of life in our present society. The book shows the importance of good upbringing and hard work in a child’s achievement in educational pursuit.
Suggestions for improvement
One lesson from the book centres on enforcement of discipline in a school system. However, the story in the book shows that the discipline enforced was too harsh for children of that age. But since the ultimate aim of discipline is to modify behaviour and then restore fellowship as quickly as possible, the Nigerian school system needs to be a little more creative with the enforcement of discipline. A mild punishment should have been better as it would have enabled any erring child to change his or her behaviour and be reintegrated back without disruption and attendant trauma.
Conclusion
Recent brain research indicates that the early developmental stage of children is fundamentally important as it constitutes the foundation that shapes children’s future health, happiness, growth, development and learning achievement at school. It also provides them a solid foundation for good moral and social life in the family, community and society in general. The Prize Giving Day demonstrates the importance of good foundational home training at the early stage of life. Consequently, I strongly recommend this book as it will inculcate the aforementioned values at that early stage of life.