This is the story of Junjun, a little boy who wants to help his mother, but who doesn’t really want to exert any effort in the process. Instead, he invokes the nonsense phrase, “rata-pata-scata-fata” to accomplish several tasks she sets before him: getting a fish for dinner, finding a lost goat, and collecting a bucket of tamarinds. Lastly, she asks him to fill the rain barrel. Junjun lies on the ground, repeats the words several times, and the chores are completed. Of course, no magic is really involved, only coincidence-or is it?

Related: Caribbean, Fantasy, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9)

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• ISBN: 9780316304702
• Author: Gershator, Phillis
• Illustrator: Meade, Holly
• Published: 1994, Little Brown & Co (Juv)
• Themes: Magic, work
• Descriptors: Caribbean, Fantasy, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9)
• No. of pages: 32