"Kitoo rolled around the dining hall. It was
the only paved surface at the orphanage.
In fact, it was the only paved surface in
all of Kikima."
Kitoo and his best friend Nigosi have a good life at the orphanage. Nigosi loves to play soccer; Kitoo loves to read. While Nigosi is off playing, Kitoo can be found helping the librarian in the orphanage library and borrowing books. When the librarian offers a few books to Kitoo before they must be destroyed, he is delighted. One concerns sports of the world; for the first time, Kitoo reads about ice hockey. Mrs. Kyatha explains ice to him, as she has spent time in Canada where it is a revered sport. She tells them there are people playing roller hockey in a city park close by.
The next time Jackson goes to the city for supplies, the boys ask if they can help. While there, they visit the park and see a roller hockey game. Kitoo comes home with discarded boots and blades. Jackson promises to help him fix them up. From then on, Kitoo is more often on skates than in shoes. Practice makes perfect, always with encouragement and support from Nigosi. While he has an imagination that keeps him ever hopeful, Kitoo is quite sure he will never see an ice rink or know what it's like to play ice hockey.
Little does he know that a surprise is in the offing. The next time the boys offer to help Jackson with supplies, they drive all the way to Nairobi, and The Paneri Hotel, site of the only ice rink in East Africa. Will Kitoo's dream come true? What do you think?
Uplifting and welcome. The book allows young readers to learn about life in an orphanage in rural Kenya, which is based on the Hope Development Centre that was co-founded by the author's parents and Eric Walters and his wife.
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