Crossing the Stream

Ato hasn't seen his grandmother's house since he was seven. He's heard rumors that she's a witch, and his mother has told him never to sit on the old couch on her porch. He's now on the couch with a strange-looking drink, wondering if the rumors are true. There's a freshly dug hole in her yard that he suspects is a grave meant for him. At school, Ato and his friends enter a competition to win entry to Nnoma, the island bird sanctuary. But something is poisoning the community garden, and Ato sets out to track down the culprit. He brings his estranged mother and grandmother back together, and the hole in the yard is a grave, but not for the purpose he feared. It brings a tender, celebratory ending to the story of healing and love.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 27 July 2023
Publisher: Cassava Republic Press

Ato has not visited his grandmother's house since he was seven years old. He has heard rumors that she is a witch, and his mother has told him he must never sit on the old couch on her porch. Now, here he is, on that exact couch, with a strange-looking drink his grandmother has given him, wondering if the rumors are true. Furthermore, there is a freshly dug hole in her yard that Ato suspects may be a grave meant for him.

Meanwhile, at school, Ato and his friends have entered a competition to win entry to Nnoma, the island bird sanctuary that Ato's father helped create. But something is poisoning the community garden where their project is housed, and Ato sets out to track down the culprit. In doing so, he brings his estranged mother and grandmother back together, and begins healing the wounds left on the family by his father's death years before.

And that hole in the yard? It is a grave, but not for the purpose Ato feared. Its use brings a tender, celebratory ending to this deeply felt and universal story of healing and love from one of Ghana's most admired children's book authors.

Weight: 212g
Dimension: 129 x 199 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781913175467