African Folktales with Miss Jo Jo
Common Sense Media Review
By Lauri C. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Traditional African stories for young kids; strong values.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Listen
Parent and Kid Reviews
What’s It About?
AFRICAN FOLKTALES WITH MISS JO JO, features traditional African stories for kids told by voice actor, Heidi Kwiat, as Miss JoJo. Audio effects and fun music help bring the stories to life and keep them entertaining for young kids. Main characters are often animals or one-dimensional people like "greedy Mr.Ananse" or "lazy hunter." Every story features a "magic word" to teach vocabulary, and Miss Jo Jo states the moral at the end of each stories to help kids understand how they can all learn from the folktale. Some episodes pause to pose a prediction question to listeners, promoting engagement and encouraging comprehension skill of predicting what will happen next. Special series of episodes released on the African Folktales with Miss Jo Jo podcast stray from this pattern, such as the Kwanzaa Time! with Aunti Oni series , which features Aunti Oni explaining the cultural and historical significance of Kwanzaa and its principles.
Is It Any Good?
These stories are absolutely worth a listen for their entertainment, moral, and cultural value, although younger listeners may need support through brief perilous scenes and thematic interpretation.
Voice actor Heidi Kwiat does an outstanding job as the storyteller Miss Jo Jo, relating stories with warmth, fun, and pace appropriate for young listeners. Audio effects, music, and prediction prompts throughout keep the stories entertaining and engaging. The value of bringing these diverse short stories from Africa into a fun, free, short, and accessible podcast can't be overstated.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how African Folktales with Miss Jo Jo uses stories to teach valuable lessons. How do some of the lessons learned in the stories you heard relate to real life experiences you've had with friends or family?
Can you think of an important lesson people should learn, and make up a folktale to help teach that lesson?
What characters made good choices in this story, and which characters made bad choices?
Podcast Details
- Release date: June 23, 2020
- Genre: Storytelling
- Average Run Time: 7 minutes
- Website: https://www.abfc.co/shows/african-folktales/
- Production Company and Network: ABF Creative
- Pricing structure: Free
- Topics: Adventures , Friendship , Great Boy Role Models , Great Girl Role Models
- Last updated: January 11, 2024
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
What to Listen to Next
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate