posted on 30 Mar 2018

Clever Carmel by Henrietta Nwagwu- Rochford, illustrated by Jason Lee

There has been a concern for at least thirty years at the paucity of children’s books with people of a dual or mixed heritage at the centre of the action. This lack of representation is disappointing, particularly as there are so many children who might recognise themselves in books like this. So it is always refreshing to come across a new one and this illustrated story looked very promising because the main protagonist is a girl who loves football, which is also a rare subject despite there being plenty of female football fans, and players.

Clever Carmel lives in South London with her Nigerian mother, English father from Manchester and three younger siblings. As in many homes, the whole family is very excited by World Cup fever. Her teacher has announced that the World Cup is going to be the new class topic and has encouraged the children to choose a country to support, but Carmel isn’t sure whether hers should be England or Nigeria. The class homework is to do some research and then come to school ready to tell everyone about it, whilst wearing something that represents the country. Her mother reassures Carmel that she can support both countries and explains why it is important for her to be proud of both cultures.

There is quite a lot of information about aspects of both Nigerian and Mancunian English culture as lived in their family and, because she feels proud of her heritage, Carmel decides to find an outfit that will represent both countries. She goes along to the sportswear shop with her mother but finds that the football shirts on sale are never going to be any good. How can she possibly find something suitable to wear? Fortunately she has magical afro bunches which, when twisted, can help her to find solutions to all kinds of problems - my granddaughter who often wears her hair in this style was very intrigued with the illustration to this part of the story and tried doing the same! The magic works immediately and gives Carmel the excellent idea to design and make her own bespoke football shirt which she does with the help of her Grandma Lucy, who is fortunately a very good seamstress. The result is a unique football kit for all four children and dad takes a family photo to celebrate.

The next day at school Carmel impresses her classmates with her confident presentation of her homework and her very original outfit. The message seems to be that a love of football is a great leveller which is one of the reasons why it is so popular.

It is worth mentioning that Carmel’s fictional dilemma relates to the real world because in 1990, the Conservative MP Norman Tebbitt controversially suggested that patriotism might be ‘ tested’ by whether cricket fans of Asian heritage living in the UK supported England or their country of origin. I think that this could be a relevant historical incident to discuss if this book was used with children in school.

As already pointed out, this is a very welcome addition to the far too few books about children who have parents with different ethnic backgrounds. I hope that the Nigerian author, who based the story on her own family, will write lots more. There is a real need for a range of stories that depict a wide variety of backgrounds, although I would personally prefer that the term ‘ mixed heritage’ was used because of ongoing debate about ‘race’ being a social construct. Definitions of identity and national pride remain issues that are discussed in schools and in wider society and  I think that this is a book that could usefully contribute to the debate. But it is the plot and characters that count most in making a childrens book successful and I am sure that the likeable and creative Carmel with her magical powers has the necessary potential to enthuse young readers.

 

Karen Argent

March 2018