BY JAPHET ALAKAM

In this present age when modernisation or civilization has robbed our children and youths the needed time to listen to folk-tales and stories from their parents, the need to come up with other means of impacting the right values to them becomes the problem. And many people have come up with many ways of addressing the problem and one of the ways is through writing of books.

And as her own contribution towards this crusade for change in the life of the youths and even the elderly ones that, Uduakobong Sunday, a Management and Investment consultant and teacher whose profession involves teaching and directing her clients on the best way to handle things came up with a book titled The Housegirl..

The Housegirl a novel that could be enjoyed by children between the ages of 10 to 18. The book is a most welcome addition to the growing titles of children literature genre. The story book is a publication of Evergold Ventures Ltd, Isolo, Lagos one of the young publishing outfits in the country. As the title of the book goes, the author in the 44 pages book of seven chapters with illustrations narrates the story of Jumoke, the daughter of a wealthy man turned housegirl, the pains and truama of her new position as an orphan and the plight of her mother as a widow after the death of her husband.

In a nutshell, The Housegirl tells the story of a young girl Jumoke who came from a wealthy home. The story is set in the a city where the good things of life were present, as a daughter of a diplomat, she had the best things of life , attended the best school until her father’s death which changed the life and they were left with only the mother who was just adjusting to the new life.

The story took a dramatic turn when the relations of the father came and accused her mother of killing the father and took over al his properties and possession and sent her packing and in the process the mother too died. Jumoke was taken to Aunty Yetunde who instead of assisting her turned her to a housegirl and denied her all the privileges , stopped her from going to school and even tried to send her to Italy for prostitution.

It was on the course of searching for what to do that she met the principal of one public school , who happens to be somebody the mother assisted when the going was good and that changed the tide of things. After listening to her story, the principal registered her in the school, gave her protectionS and took care of her education up to the university. And after graduation she became a qualified nurse and married a wealthy man.

The story of The Housegirl paints a very clear message: there is reward in doing good, determination and honesty. It reveals some social ills like child abuse and human trafficking, positive values like offering help to the helpless, the role of the police in the protection of the citizens as well as attitudes of an individual towards the attainment of his/her destiny were also highlighted. This is a very good message for children and young adults.

Uduakobong Sunday’s novel equally underscored the fact that one should not give up because of certain situations as through diligence and hard work one could overcome. The story also explored the role of fate in the affairs of men. The storyline of this novel is very strong. The narrative is straightforward and simple. It has suspense and several tense moments and ended on a positive note.

In all the book, is not without some glaring defects. The chapters are very small and the narrative though good but would have been stronger had it enjoyed a tighter editorial control.

In spite of these observations, however, The Housegirl makes a most desirable reading and I recommend it to schools, children, young adults and the general public.