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| | Children's Books |
 | | ''In the Time of the Drums'' is the story of Mentu, a young boy born on the Sea Islands, off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, whose grandmother, Twi, teaches him the powerful healing ways of the Ibo tribe, from which she was taken in her youth. |
 | | On one page, for example, Mentu, who is big enough to carry two buckets of water, complains about the burden; Twi insists that he do so as practice for what is coming when he is an adult. |
 | | It is that breath of kindness that lingers in the wake of this book Ñ Grandmother Twi's love for her grandson Mentu, a love he in turn passes on to his children and they to theirs. |
| partners.nytimes.com /books/99/08/15/reviews/990815.15children.html (748 words) |
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