The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap

​Author: Bridget Krone
Publisher: Catalyst Press
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
Before writing English text books for South African schools, Bridget Krone was an English teacher for a few years.  This book, her latest, is about a young boy who learns the importance of friendship and community. It’s a tale of courage, never giving up and knowing there’s grace in the world no matter 

how depressing your circumstances are. Aim for the moon because even if you miss, you might hit a star. Through his endeavours our protagonist discovers the significance of aspiring high, even if he lives in an impoverish village called Cedarville.
Boipelo (Boi) Seku is almost thirteen. He’s a Grade 8 pupil at Cedarville Comprehensive School and lives with his grandmother and father in a little two-room house in Khorong Koali Park in Cedarville. Cedarville, in the Eastern Cape, is a small village between two bigger towns, Matatiele and Kokstad. Instead of having green shady trees, his village is littered with dirt, weeds and thin dogs. Their houses were built after 1994 by the new democratic government after apartheid ended. They have a pit toilet outside the garden.
Life at home is not easy. Like most of his neighbours, Boi’s father is unemployed. Their only source of income is the government grant money that Makhulu (grandmother) gets at the end of the month. They use candles to light their home at night and a paraffin stove to cook as the cost of electricity is out of their reach. Their house is baking hot in summer and as cold as ice in winter as they don’t have ceiling boards. The tin roof leaks when it rains so Boi knows where to position his mattress to avoid it getting wet when it rains. His mother died in childbirth so Makhulu moved into the house to take care of him. Even though she’s almost blind, nothing he does escapes her notice. Much to his irritation.
His best friend is Potso, they’ve been inseparable since Grade One. They fish together at the river, hunt for tiny field mice to roast on an open fire, and dig clay from holes in the river bank and make little animals, mostly oxen or cows. Potso aside, he also has feelings for Sesi, the daughter of one of his school teachers.
It was an ordinary day when he stumbled upon a story that would change his life forever. Makhulu had gotten some old magazines from aunty Shirley from the library and asked Boi to read to her recipes for mincemeat from one of the magazines. A brief not easy when you are a boy whose staple diet consist of maize meal porridge and sour milk. The closest the family ever gets to eat meat is chicken feet or polony.  The story that caught his interest though was titled: Man Trades Paperclip for a House. It ignited a spark in him that saw him start his own trading scheme beginning with a tiny clay cow he made himself. Just maybe, his dream to one day live in a house big enough for his family, could become reality. Doubts aside and with Potso by his side, he traded. And trade by trade, he learned valuable life lessons, overcame obstacles, uplifted his community and brought to power the Nguni saying: Umuntu ungumuntu ngabantu (you’re because of others).    ​