Sophie and her father moved to Gorom-Gorom in Africa three years ago following the death of Sophie’s mother. Sophie is very involved with community life and assists her best friend, Gidaado the Fourth, with his duties as griot (praise singer) for the upcoming presidential campaign leader, General Alai Crêpe-Sombo. However, even though everyone is enamoured by Crêpe-Sombo’s charm, strength and feats of bravery, Sophie is not convinced and suspects that this potential political leader is plotting something very sinister for the people of West Africa should he win the election… 

Review On the surface, this novel seems to echo colonial discourse: Sophie plays the role of the white missionary whose job it is to save the ‘natives’ from themselves as they unwittingly and foolishly walk the path to their own demise. Sophie, a girl of just ten years of age, can see the corruption that Gorom-Gorom potentially faces should they elect Crêpe-Sombo as the next president. She not only displays an intelligence that is superior to the people of Gorom-Gorom as none of the people, both children and adults alike, are able to see through Crêpe-Sombo’s façade, she is able to outwit and plan the downfall of the novel’s leading antagonist. Although one might read this novel and argue that it supports a racialised hierarchy as the ‘white’ characters are associated with intelligence (Sophie’s father is a botanical professor) and the ‘native’ characters are mostly associated with either gullibility or corruption, this would not be a fair reading. As stated, Sophie is fully integrated into Gorom-Gorom community life: she goes to the same school as the other children from the community, she knows the town very well, she knows the people who work there also very well as she can name most, if not all, of the members of the community by sight, and she is fluently conversant in Fulfulde. All of these attributes assert that she, in fact, is not socially superior to those around her, but equal to them.

Consequently, this novel can be seen as actually empowering the child protagonist as the adults (and children) need Sophie’s help to fight Crêpe-Sombo which many readers will find exciting. Sophie, with the help of her best friend Gidaado who is also around age ten, plot a mission to bring down Crêpe-Sombo to save the town of Gorom-Gorom. Sophie and the Pancake Plot is a very entertaining read. Sophie is a loveable character and she amuses the reader with her wit and equally with her defiance. She gets herself into some tricky situations but uses the lessons that she has learned throughout the novel to save her. On the whole a funny and very entertaining read. Sophie’s adventure with daring confrontations, secret covert missions and an escape for survival fulfil the expectations required of an adventure story and readers will find it a very enjoyable and exciting read.

This novel would be a good addition to any children’s library as it excites the reader’s imagination as Sophie takes the reader with her on her adventure to save Gorom-Gorom.

2008-11-23