SuitabookBoy of the painted cave
Justin F. Denzel
- Reading
- Consider reading together and pausing around the rejection and the hyena threat; check how the child feels about those scenes before moving on.
- Themes
- Belonging and rejection: Tao is shunned by his clan, disowned by his father and taken in by Kala. Rejection and care from others are central to the outline, but the story's judgement of the clan and its response to Tao are not clear.
- Ambition and the chance to create: Tao wants to become a cave painter, a role open to only a select few, and learns from the shaman Graybeard. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Worth knowing
- Tao's mother dies when he is a baby, and his father rejects him; the father also wants to leave him to the hyenas. These are stark elements of his backstory.