Crossing the river bank: The Rock Rabbit series

Tsuro is a fictional character, in this children’s book. He is a clever rock rabbit found in a region called Manicaland, what is part of present-day Zimbabwe. Tsuro is a rock rabbit who goes through many adventures. The stories of Tsuro are loosely based on some of the Shona folk stories. Our grandmothers and grandfathers used to tell us folk stories about the wild animals in our region. 

One of the main characters was the rabbit in these Shona folk stories one of Zimbabwe's local languages. In Shona, Tsuro means rabbit. I named some of my characters from Shona words. Growing up we would play a game and you would be asked to make up your own story from these characters mainly the rabbit, the monkey, the tortoise, the lion, the elephant, the zebra and all the wild animals. These stories would then be passed on from generation to generation. 

The name Rock Rabbit comes from a place in Manicaland that I used to go hiking with my dad as a child. It was a mountainous area with a special breed of rabbits that moved so fast. They were pleasing to the eye, but these rabbits would hide under rocks when they saw humans. Through oral history, it is said that when the British settlers first came they named that area Rock Rabbit. The name, up until now has not been changed.

All copy rights observed. Some of the stories in this series are loosely based on some Shona folk stories. They belong to every person of the Shona language with different versions from different regions. Our grandmothers and grandfathers used to tell us folk stories about the clever rabbit. However some of the stories in the series were made up, by the author from scratch.

About the author. My name is Wadzanai Chiwereza. I was born in Zimbabwe. I have a Bachelor's degree in French, Theatre, and Cinema, from the prestigious French University Université de Grenoble Alpes.