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Girl (13) publishes English book

03 Feb, 2017 - 00:02 0 Views
Girl (13) publishes English book

The ManicaPost

Morris Mtisi —
THIS MEANS WAR-BATTLE OF THE CAPTAINS is a 74-page book written by 14-year-old Rumbie Munembe. A miracle in the history of writing? May be, May be not.

Rumbie lives in Harare with parents and adorable sisters. At the age of 13 (2016) now 14 and in Form One, Rumbie is nothing short of a marvel to me. When her uncle handed over the book to me I could not believe my eyes. But it was true. 13-year-old Rumbie had written and published a book.

The first marvel was not the idea of Rumbie writing and publishing something.  It was how she demonstrated mastery of English Language skills and writing techniques, not only average pupils at age 13 or 14 have not mastered, but even Form One and Two pupils. Experience tells me that many Form Four students cannot write as well as Rumbie does.

I must confess when I started going through her short stories written in effective style and outstanding mastery of storytelling, I did not just see the awesome craftsmanship (is it craftsgirlship?) of a 13-year-old author, but indeed the glorious achievement of her teachers-the teachers who made her a writer with not only amazing writing skills, but one with wild dreams. An author at 13?

Beyond saluting Rumbie, I want to congratulate her teachers, whoever they are for moulding a young writer the calibre of this beautiful little girl. And of course her parents who allowed her to be so daring and adventurous! What a way of demonstrating how the new curriculum is correctly emphasizing practical application of knowledge and or skills learnt. What can you do with the skills acquired? That is what Dr Lazarus Dokora says every day, and seemingly nobody seems to understand.

Here is a little girl who is not only an A student in the learning area of English Language, but a girl whose outstanding writing skills, she at 13 years of age, have been turned into a wonderful little book. Her skills have turned a young girl, literally a minor, into a distinguished author right under our noses.

In this first meticulous review of Rumbie’s 74-page book: THIS MEANS WAR-BATTLE OF THE CAPTAINS, I want to share with my avid followers of The Education Page, her outstanding mastery of effective storytelling and how she aptly uses the opening sentence as an effective teaser, a gripping and captivating skill appropriate for narrative writing. A Grade Seven to Form One pupil already a master of FLASHBACK style of narration which many Form Four students struggle to understand, let alone freely use. If you are not surprised, I am. Pleasantly surprised!

In this instalment I will cite only the opening sentences of her stories. Notice how Rumbie craftily avoids an INTRODUCTION but resorts to an effective nosedive into her story. She begins where it is eye-catching, going straight for the jugular vein where it matters—where there is fullness of life and where it is dramatically captivating.

Chapter 1. At Home With The Hendersons

“I don’t get it really. Why would a person take a teenager?” That was my brother Shane asking me that question.

Chapter 2. The Newcomers At School

“Mackenzie! Girl you better come down right now!” I heard a voice shout.

Chapter 3:  The Challenge

Ring-a –ling-ding went my little bell alarm. I got up and removed my blind fold and stretched my arms.

Chapter 4.   The Transfer

After school Luke came to pick us from the school.

Chapter 5.  The Kidnapping

After that huge embarrassing moment I went home.

Chapter 6.   An Unknown Number

I stood up from my History lesson and asked Mrs Zen if I could go to the bathroom.

Chapter 7.  The Unanticipated Arrest

“Okay, tell me what’s going on now?” Chief asked when we had met at the office….”

Chapter 8   The Tracking Devices

I was made to sit in that room on one of the couches.

Chapter 9   Visit To The Police Station

When we got home from the police station, I just got out of the car, banged the door, went to my room and banged that door too.

Chapter 10.   The Bad News

The halfway was full of talking teenagers. They were all asking each other what had happened.

Chapter 11,   The Death That Never Was

I managed to stay alive the whole day at school. That was great, right?

Chapter 12  The Revelation

“You should have seen the look on her face,” Angie said.

Chapter 13   The Interrogation

I was on the verge of death and just couldn’t keep calm.

Chapter 14….NB . UNTITLED 

The last day of school! Man, I was excited!

You can easily see how Rumbie has tightly and deeply grasped the art of beginning narrative stories. She wastes no time and does not rigmarole around where things happened and when. She is not interested in the traditional INTRODUCTION which removes the kick-starting zest and opening punch. You remember the boring-to-death traditional ‘It was last year on 27 April when we went to bla bla bla. . .followed by a miserable description of what it looked like outside and so forth and so on…”

Rumbie was taught the FLASHBACK. She understood it. She mastered it. She now uses it to write her narrative stories with a punching, gripping and captivating beginning. So catchy and gripping that the opening paragraph screams READ ME NOW!

If all the Form 4s could learn Composition Writing from this Grade Seven-now Form One pupil, they could all get As in the relevant examination paper.

I know judicious critics are waiting to shoot the little girl down. There are many among us. And perhaps it is African culture to be jealously critical of other people’s achievements. Who said her writing was perfect? Where do we find perfect language speakers or writers anywhere on earth? Are you brood of critical linguistic vipers perfect, even in your stolid attitude and criticism?

Well done Rumbie! You have achieved what many of us would never imagine achieving at your age. Some of us even at 50 or 60 cannot and will not achieve what you have achieved.

The wise will learn, not just mark, sulk and make noise.

The poorest markers of other people’s works never write except mark, remark and judge:  “Fair, Satisfactory, Poor, Could have done better,” every day to the last syllable of recorded time without writing pieces of their own.   Go Rumbie Go! Well done! And don’t look back!

Allow me to thank Rumbie, but particularly her father who gave me the authority to use her book to teach other pupils how to teach writing with a purpose on The Education Page.

On this platform pupils learn… and wise adults too, learn.

Next week, I will give you the whole of Chapter One for those who want to learn from Rumbie’s super-narrated stories!  I will in future give you a few selected chapters followed by tuition remarks intended to guide your learning. DON’T MAKE A MISTAKE OF MISSING THESE SERIES!

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