- School Begins
- Lunch Break
- The Club and the Threatening Note
- The New Mystery Club
- The Big Surprise
- Good-For-Nothing-Clue
- A Clue...at Last
Reprinted with permissionOriginally published in The Punch - Friday December 26, 2003. pg. 44
Nine-year-old pupil, Miss Mojisola Igun, joined the enviable league of authors on December 22 when she launched her maiden children's book in Ibadan, Oyo State
Report by Laolu HaroldsNo Doubt, the presentation of the book, The Day School Began, by little Mojisola Igun, was a celebration of achievement. As the reviewer, Managing Director, The Booksellers, Ltd. Mr. Kolade Mosuro rightly noted, it is a literature of childhood.
Ordinarily, given the maturity of presentation and the interrelatedness of the themes and motifs, the work would have passed unnoticed under the assumption than an accomplished author of children's books had added another title to the stable.
Except that this seven chapter, 39 page literary masterpiece was a product of a nine year old.
The message was not lost on the audience on the audience on Monday in Ibadan at the presentation that Mojisola Igun had truly exhibited an amazing dose of precocity for daring to tread (an succeed) on a path dreaded by most adults.
From the selection of titles, near perfect sequencing of thought process, diversity of themes, choice of diction and the effective handling of the complex narrative technique of suspense, it was initially difficult agreeing that the work was original to the young lad until the proud grandfather of the author, Dr. Lekan Are, presented to the audience the original handwritten manuscript. The sanctity of which, according to him, Moji had insisted must be kept.
Set expectedly in the United States where the author was born and is schooling, the book explores in a concise manner and with clarity, the life and activities of pupils in the three vital areas of home, school bus and the school environment. Shedding light on such themes as rivalry and bullying (terrorism) experienced in an average American school.
Interestingly as one of the chapters, "The Club and the Threatening Note" reveals, the writer has a bent for the detective genre and what it takes to solve a crime.
This, Moji Igun, told our correspondent later in an interview, came from reading several detective stories and watching detective serials. She had, no doubt, displayed an uncanny ability in the handling of the themes and the narrative techniques for which she was deservedly applauded.
The Chairman of the occasion and Chairman, Punch Nigeria, Limited, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, commended the author noting that through the work, she has confirmed she had a pedigree of intellectual excellence.
He urged the publishers to produce a Nigerian edition probably in which the preface would be reworded and the background redesigned.
The event afforded the presenter, Chief. S.I. Adegbite, the opportunity to bemoan the poverty of the Nigerian education system, where equally talented children end up failing to excel owing to lack of an enabling environment to maximize their potential. The way out of this he stressed was increased deregulation of the sector. "Basic literacy and technical skills management of world standard must be provided" he noted.
It would be impossible to produce the likes of Igun in the system here he stressed unless teachers were well paid, necessary infrastructure provided and education generally well funded.
The special guest of honor and wife of Oyo State Governor, Alhaja Olayinka Ladoja, said that though children constituted a nations inestimable resource, they had to be tended properly to maximally harness their potential for national development. Ladoja decried the incidence of cultism and other anti-social behaviors in schools describing them as unacceptable.
She said as part of the commitment of the Oyo State government to facilitate qualitative education, the state Governor, Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja, had commenced the process of decongesting the state schools setting a maximum of 30 pupils per class. She described Igun's work as a challenge to all and called on parents to help channel children's energy towards productive ventures.