Jakkals word wakker met 'n stert wat nie wil swaai nie. Is sy dalk siek? Kan 'n hond se stert net skielik breek? Haar mense is bekommerd, maar dis Lolliepop, Jakkals se beste maat, wat raai wat fout is.

Hulle twee swem mos graag in die dam, waar Jakkals duik en rol soos 'n wafferse walvis. Al wat Jakkals nodig het om beter te word, is iemand wat verstaan, soos Lolliepop! Die scenario van troeteldiere wat hulle eienaars soggens kom wakker maak, is aan baie huishoudings bekend, en kinders sal maklik hiermee identifiseer en assosiasies maak. Die teikenmark (3 – 7 jaar oud) kan op dié ouderdom al met ander simpatiseer en veral wanneer assosiasies gemaak word met gebeure of karakters wat vir hulle emosionele betekenis inhou. Jakkals se dilemma sal jong verbeeldings aanwakker om redes en oplossings te probeer vind. Kreatiewe denke word ook so gestimuleer.

Die skrywer maak dit verder vanuit die staanspoor duidelik dat die ouers (volwassenes) nie Honds verstaan nie, en in hierdie geval dus nie sal kan help nie. Deur op ’n kind te fokus om die saak te beredder, word kinders (’n jong voorleesgehoor) dadelik by die verhaal betrek. Kleuters sal hulle aan die kant van die kind en Jakkals skaar en die verhaal enduit, en waarskynlik herhaaldelik, wil hoor om by die oplossing en gelukkige einde te kom.

Ten spyte van Jakkals se bekommernis, slaag die skrywer daarin om met humor en kreatiewe taalgebruik die verhaal lig en positief te hou. Humor stimuleer kreatiwiteit en waar baie boeke deesdae opvoedkundige of morele boodskappe oordra, is Die hond met die stert sonder swaai ’n lekker storie met baie geleenthede vir prettige interaksie tussen voorleser en kind om aangename boek- en leesherinneringe te skep. Alle lesers het ’n paar boeke uit hulle vroeë kinderjare wat kosbare herinneringe oproep. Prenteboeke kan lewenslange boekliefhebbers skep.

Jakkals' wag won't work! Is she sick? Is her tail broken? Mom and Dad are worried, but it is little Lollipop, her best friend, that knows her best.

Jakkals and Lollipop love swimming in the lake, Jakkals diving and breaching like a whale. She needs nothing more than Lollipop's understanding to regain her wag.

In spite of the problem of Jakkals' seemingly broken wag, the author manages to keep the story light and positive by using humour and creative language. Humour stimulates creativity and brings a fresh angle to the story and a welcome change from other books for this age group, often with educational or moralising messages.

The Dog with the Broken Wag provides lots of opportunity for funfilled interaction between reader and listener, creating lasting memories of shared reading experiences.

Compelling inside views of what characterises opera and music theatre in African and African diasporic contexts. Music is often cited as a central artistic mode in African theatre and performance practices. However, little attention has been paid to music theatre on the continent in general, and to opera in particular, with the exceptions ofa few noted genres, such as Concert Party or the Yorùbá "folk opera" of the 1960s, and the emerging research on opera culture in South Africa. This volume of African Theatre highlights the diversity across the continent from a variety of perspectives - including those of genre, media, and historiography. Above all, it raises questions and encourages debate: What does "opera" mean in African and African diasporic contexts? What are its practices and legacies - colonial, postcolonial and decolonial; what is its relation to the intersectionalities of race and class? How do opera and music theatre reflect, change or obscure social, political and economic realities? How are they connected to educational and cultural institutions, and non-profit organisations? And why is opera contradictorily, at various times, perceived as both "grand" and "elitist, "folk" and "quotidian", "Eurocentric" and "indigenous"? Contributors also address aesthetic transformation processes, the porousness of genre boundaries and the role of space and place, with examples ranging from Egypt to South Africa, from Uganda to West Africa and the USA. The playscript in this volume is We Take Care of Our Own by Zainabu Jallo GUEST EDITORS: Christine Matzke, Lena van der Hoven, Christopher Odhiambo & Hilde Roos Series Editors: Yvette Hutchison, Reader, Department of Theatre & Performance Studies, University of Warwick; Chukwuma Okoye, Reader in African Theatre & Performance University of Ibadan; Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds.