Treat your enemies with kindness.. a tribe is made stronger by adding to your ranks, not by demolishing others. p82
You should use force to end a battle, but you should use kindness to prevent the next one. When people lose a battle they become angry and they want to rise again and defeat you! But if you treat them with kindness and forgiveness, they can become allies, and your tribe becomes stronger! p 32
Rodentia is not just a story of a meerkat (Mosela) trying to unite three very different kingdoms (mice, owls and tortoises) against a common enemy and save her family, with her father’s words (above) grounding her. It’s a lesson for us about how to handle people that we think we have nothing in common with. It’s a lesson for those currently waging war on each other. And it’s a lesson for our new government of national unity trying to find their way to lead our country.
The story starts in the village of Sireletsa, where Mosela’s father, Moshesh, has established a community to protect Rodentia’s southern borders. They haven’t had any problems in years until the penguin Scraw, with his army and massive dangerous snakes attack and destroy the village. The small meerkats are captured because of their size and ability to go down mine shafts, so Mosela is captured along with some of her friends.
They embark on a boat ride. Through sheer ingenuity and defending their lives, they manage to escape. But now they have to warn the other kingdoms of the attack. How to do this? And who is brave enough to be the messenger?
With the help of a friendly hadida bird called Harold (who is always wanting treats), Mosela flies out on her mission. Along the way she encounters Gundwane the rat, who describes himself as a sangoma or shamen who creates a potion which reveals this prophecy to her:
Giant beasts,
fire from the sky,
a divided country will fall.
Forced out of home,
a powerful leader,
The Chosen One!
He shall unite the Three Kingdoms.
Right on cue, an owl tumbles into their path – but is he the Chosen One? He seems to think he is, but Mosela has her doubts. As they journey to the different kingdoms to alert the powers that be, he is full of himself, refuses to bow, and proclaims himself as the new leader. Mosela, on the other hand, is more diplomatic and shares her doubts, while also communicating her real concern for the life of her family.
The sheer selfishness of Khova the owl can be seen in this exchange when they have failed to communicate the urgency of the situation to a king. Khova is worried about his mother back home, and rightly so, but he places this above the danger that the community faces and working together to find a solution.
There is no “we” – there is no “together.” This is your fight. I have other things to worry about!”
He takes all the provisions and mounts the bird without Mosela, but fortunately, Harold refuses to budge without her.
He is reluctantly dragged along now but soon goes his own way.
It is only when they re-examine the prophecy and realise that there is no “he” or “she” in the meerkat language that Mosela’s mind is opened to the possibility that she might just be the Chosen One.
I really enjoyed this book, and it is a lovely book for tweens as well. My son enjoyed it too.
I think the lesson I took from it was that we are stronger together than apart, and as it is written by a South African, it really encapsulates the spirit of ubuntu. I hope that we can see ourselves in these animals and rise above the differences to be able to work as one.
Rodentia: Mosela and the Three Kingdoms. By Luke Calder.
Read my other suggestions for tween books here.
Disclaimer: I was provided with the book.
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