Crossing the Stream by Elizabeth-Irene Baitie

Crossing the Stream takes us to Africa, where a young teen is facing spiritual and practical challenges.

Crossing the Stream by Elizabeth-Irene Baitie. Norton, 2021, 216 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-14

Ato read the flier on the school bulletin board as though it were a clarion call: Are you old enough to leave home on your own, but young enough to believe that the earth needs you? . . . Then let us ferry you away from the crowded city to the mountainous bird island of NNOMA. Your project is your invitation. Submit it to us by June first.

Nnoma is the famed bird sanctuary that Ato’s own father had helped to build. His father, stricken by cancer when Ato was still a toddler, had written the boy a letter expressing his hope that both of them would one day climb the highest peak of the island and relish the beauty of creation together. Now Ato has a chance to take up that challenge for his father’s sake as well as his own, but Mum is distracted. As the family’s sole support, she’s stretched thin. And now that Ato is a teenager, she’s seen unwelcome signs of rebellion in him. In that suspicion, the Prophet backs her up.

Prophet Yakayaka, Mum’s new spiritual guide, is good at pointing out bad influences—including Ato’s grandmother, whose house is supposedly a repository of evil. So why has Mum just agreed to let Ato spend weekends with Nana, after a long hiatus? And might there actually be something uncanny about Nana’s house? There’s definitely something uncanny about the community garden where Ato and his two best friends are growing their project for the Nnoma application.

There’s a lot going on in this relatively brief novel, but it holds together. Though the action takes place in a fictional African country, the issues involved reflect a real culture: spiritual clashes and deceptions, poverty and child homelessness, environmentalism vs. development, and universal family and relational conflicts. All of us must “cross the stream” at some point in our lives, whether to act or simply to change our minds. Ato is able to cross more than one in the course of this narrative, making his story worthwhile.

Overall Rating: 3.75 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.25

Read more about our ratings here.

Consideration

• The emphasis on spirits may disturb some Christian parents, but is in keeping with traditional African religious traditions. Though the culture isn’t specifically Christian, brief biblical references indicate some Christian influence.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

Reviews: See our review of an excellent resource about African history: The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay.

Reflection: Anansi, the trickster character of African mythology, is referenced often in Crossing the Stream. Emily explores the origins of Anansi in “A Story, A Story.”

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