Guava Strokes is a book written to address the issue of corporal punishment in African schools, and particularly in rural Kenya. It does not fight the teachers’ obligation to correct the messes of our children; rather, it touches upon the inhumane extremes that contribute to school drop-outs, and hence the killing of learners’ ambitions. The book is well balanced between the teachers’ extremes and the pupils’ messes that invite such punitive actions. The author does not advocate abolition of punishment; he merely campaigns for a more humane treatment of learners.