BOOK REVIEW
Glenn Doman, Teach Your Baby to Read, Published by Jonathan
Cape (1963, pp. 158)
     One striking factor about Doman's book is the number of reprints
since its publication in 1963. The author,          a graduate of Physical
Therapy,      shares   his experiences    with brain-injured    children at the
Philadelphia      Rehabilitation   Centre where hundreds of handicapped ch:i.ld-
ren have achieved normal lives.
     Working with a team of specialists        in the fields of education and
medicine,     he discovered     that children whose brains had been damaged at
birth    could be taught how to read,      a factor which made them tv reason
out that normal childrel). could achieve more and at far younger ages
than the handicapped who achieved -reading at the age less than four years.
     In the book, Doman suggests that neurological           organization   is stimulated
'llld increased     in very small children through teaching them how to read.
 fhis   is true because reading is a cognitive process         through which the child
is given opportunity to acquire information about his surrounding.              As they
learn    to read children also learn language, which'is the vehicle for
expressing      their ideas and thoughts.     He continues to argue that there is
no case where early reading has been a disadvantage to the child. On
the contrary,      superior   students have been taught how to read at very
early     ages.
      How early should a child begin reading?
      Doman reports     instances   where children have achieved reading by
the age of three,      meaning that they have had access to reading at much
 earlier    ages: fourteen months onwards.        One of the main arguments put
forward      by the author as to why reading should be taught at such young
 ages is that children      do want to read.   They are curious and eager to
learn,     especially   between the ages of    it years   to 4 years,   so that
 depriving    them of the. opportunity ~o learn is tantamount to limiting
 their   experiences,     a necessary   component for the process      of learnil1g
to survive.
      Another reason      advanced by the author is that children have the
 ability to read.     Their cognitive set allows them to master words,
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sentences, eic. As such there is no reason why they should not be
allowed to read. Another factor mentioned by the author is that child-
ren learn how to read anyway before they even enter kindergarten
when for instance, they look at pii_ Lures or watch T.V. shows. So
it is better to provide them with organized reading.
     Lastly, Doman argues that teaching very young children to read
not only quenches their thirst for knowledge as indicated by their
hyper activity but also is accompanied with their ability to take in
and store information. Such ability will never be equalled again in
their lifetime. Moreover, they get opportunity to strengthen, add
and utilize more linguistic repertoire, a facility man needs for his
 social livelihood, since man can have no more sophisticated thought
than he has language (vocabulary, expression) to express it.
     Doman does not forget to share his methodological experiences
which initially require no more than paper and pen (stiff paper and
felt pen). The child is taught visual differentiation of individual words
beginning with known and moving on to the unknown while taking the.3
child at his own speed. The alphabet is not taught till the child is
able to read.
     While the setting of the book is essentially on the American
population, which is at a higher level of economic development with
a much higher level of literacy skills, the ideas portrayed by the
author are worthwhile considering for application in Tanzania.
Reading is a mentally healthy process which needs to be encouraged
at all levels of the Tanzanian population. It is a source of education.
When the reading material is well selected for purposes of our
readership. Young children need to be initiated into the process so
that they make it a habit in their life.
     However, there is need to place reading in a theoretical framework
which is meaningful to Tanzanians. Individualism and competitive
practices would be the resulting process if Doman's approach were
to be practiced in the Tanzanian context without an effort to translate
it, that is, the family being the basic, dominant trainer in the programme.
On the other hand, in Tanzania, where we do not have the necessary
 economic facilities and the educational background, it is much more
feasible to think in terms of providing such skills to young children
 collectively for the purpose of harnessing the limited resources for
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popular use. Day-care centres or playgroups can institute a reading
programme which could multiply to other centres. This is possible
since at the initial stage the method suggested does not require expen-
sive tools. As soon as the child begins to read books, it is necessary
to keep up the motivation that will have been hopefully advanced.
     Essentially, the book is of great importance to Tanzanians for
the development of man since it is based on thorough knowledge of
how the brain works and develops. As such, it requires studying and
developing programmes suited for Tanzanian ideology and practice
so that the individual talents are developed within the context of the
whole society. Among others, components should include the motivation
of adult readers, able parents to begin the programme with their own
children together with their neighbours1 collectively; developing
children's reading materials and programmes, setting such materials
in the Tanzanian context for uplifting abilities in a variety of areas.
The radio arid other forms of mass media should be used to cultivate
and promote such needs and programmes.
                                                    M.V. MVUNG1
Jette Bukh The Village Woman in Ghana, Centre for Development
Research Publications 1, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies,
Uppsala 1979, pp. 118.
     Jette Bukh's monograph offers a very comprehensive, well-
 documented picture of the social contradictions facing village women
in Ghana. It represents an important contribution in the field of
African women's studies.
     The monograph vis not a theoretical study, however, Bukh rightfully
 felt it necessary to set a theoretical point of departure. The point of
 departure is identified as "the transformation process in a peasant
 society" resulting in "anew social division of labour, new patterns of
 exploitation and oppression, new elements of class contradictions, and
 in particular an increased subordination of women", (p. 13)
     In Chapter Two Bukh concretized the transformation process in terms
 of historical structural changes which had taken place in the village
 economy. The village understudy was situated in Ghana's cocoa growing
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