How the Sky and the Earth Made People: From the Oral Stories of Malagasy Elders by Stephanie Zabriskie

How the Sky and the Earth Made People: From the Oral Stories of Malagasy Elders by Stephanie Zabriskie
Buy How the Sky and the Earth Made People: From the Oral Stories of Malagasy Elders by Stephanie Zabriskie at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com (Paid links)
Category: Children's Non-Fiction
Reviewer: Jill Murphy
Summary: A beautiful transcription of an oral tradition accounting for creation in Malagasy culture.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 24	Date: December 2025
Publisher: Stephanie Zabriskie
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-8994322703
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How the Sky and the Earth Made People was created in collaboration with the Malagasy people at Antsiranana, Madagascar. Its aim is to preserve ancestral stories and offer a language learning tool centred on Malagasy culture. It is a written transcription of a traditional Malagasy oral tale, recorded and adapted for children while respecting its original meaning.

Before people came and joined the animals, there was only the sky and the earth. Everything was quiet until the earth and the sky began to tal to each other. First, the earth created bodies. And then, the sky breathed life into them. These were the first humans and they belonged to both earth and sky. And so people lived between sky and soil and they planted and learned and remembered, especially how they came to be. When they grew old and died, their bodies returned to the earth and their life returned to the sky. And that is why the earth and the sky are both revered. Only together can they create human beings. And that is why people must pay attention to, and care for, both.

I love this creation lore. It speaks to us all. Being a reviewer for a British website, largely concerned with finding books to recommend for British parents to share with their children, I have to write about it largely from this perspective and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to them. 

The illustrations splice between English and French texts, joining them together. As with the previous book in this series, they are in rich, jewel tones and burst from the page. You want to touch them. It's a lovely page design, bringing the narrative to life and encouraging the language exploration ambitions of the book. I love the way the people are first depicted as almost statue-like when they are without life and then spring into movement when awakened by the sky, listening and looking and raising their arms to feel the wind.

The English text is written with great care using short but rhythmic sentences that you can imagine being spoken aloud by a respected elder. While in simple English, there is a sprinkling of more advanced words that will stretch vocabulary and there is a strong emphasis on the way in which people, the earth and the sky combine to create a holistic world and environment in which each part depends on all the other parts. Teachers could have a wide range of discussions about people and the environment using this book. 

The story is told in both English and French, encouraging children to take an interest in languages and to stretch and progress literacy and language skills generally. The earlier a child starts to learn new languages the better, and here young children can read and understand simple but evocative French sentences. And most importantly of all, it provides an educational resource for Malagasy children that centres their own culture and traditional beliefs, something sadly missing too often in schools attended by indigenous children.

It would be a tragedy if oral traditions like this were lost. They are precious. How the Sky and the Earth Made People treats its precious source material with care and respect, and it gives thankful acknowledgement to Malagasy elder Sabosty (Zaman'i Zady), who collaborated in its creation. I loved everything about it. 

Highly recommended. 

If you'd like to explore oral traditions further, look no further than another in this series: How Maasai Women Spoke to Cows: From the Oral Stories of Maasai Elders by Stephanie Zabriskie.

You can read more about Stephanie Zabriskie here.

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You can read more book reviews or buy How the Sky and the Earth Made People: From the Oral Stories of Malagasy Elders by Stephanie Zabriskie at Amazon.com. (Paid link)

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