Ring Around The Moon

By Maretha Maartens

‘Ring around the moon’ written by Maretha Maartens is a touching story of the year about a young girl named ‘Gezina’ and what she learns one day from her grandmother. Gezina is named after her grandmother, and she hates her name because she feels it’s so old fashioned. She prefers to be called Gina, the shortened and more modern version of her grandmothers’ name. This book can also be obtained under the Afrikaans title ‘Gezina en die Bruin Wind’.

One evening she’s left to take care of her grandmother who is incredibly old and needs home health care. During the evening her gran tells young Gezina the raw story of her experiences during the Anglo-Boer War.

Discovery Learning

During the nights journey of dreams, granny Gezina tells of the situations she found herself faced with and the personal core values she discovered. During this relay for life she finds the courage to heal. This turns out to be an incredibly motivational story and a real discovery learning experience for young Gezina. Suffice it to say that by the end of the evening, and the end of the story the young girl has a new perspective and respect for her name.

I read Ring Around the Moon in primary school and it struck me so powerfully that I ended up reading it a few times. This is the incredible journey of a woman with a warrior soul, and I feel compelled to review it. The two things that struck me the most was firstly, how much stock we put into the baby names that have been given us. The second is how much we get to see through someone else’s eyes when we hear of their experiences.

We see only what we have eyes to see.

I once heard a saying that goes; ‘A smart man learns from his experiences, A wise man learns from the experiences of others.’ I remember also having a woman in my life who would tell me stories about her life and her experiences. I remember thinking to myself at the time, ‘I am going to live in such a way so that I too will have stories to tell.’

For the Tropic of Freedom Books Finders Keepers:
So, my questions to you are: How are you choosing to live your life?
What kind of impact are your life experiences having on those you choose to share them with?

For the South African Finders

This book is only available in Afrikaans from Kalahari.net.

Click on the Icon below to purchase this book from Kalahari.net

Return from Ring Around the Moon
to the Fiction Factory


Return to Tropic of Freedom Books Home