All Books Available Through the Center, Listed by Title

Title: A Is For Africa Author: Ifeoma Onyefulu Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1993 Length: 24 pp Publisher: Puffin Type: Non-Fiction

Description: From A-Z, stunning color photographs depict everyday life in Nigeria, where the author grew up. The images depict warm family life and traditional villages scenes.

Title: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Author: Ishmael Beah Language: English Age Group: Ages 14 to Adult Year: 2007 Length: 226 pp Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Type: Non-Fiction

Description: In the fifty-plus conflicts now going on around the globe, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah, the author of this horrifying yet vitally important memoir, used to be one of them. What is war like for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old soldier? How does a child become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have tried to imagine their lives. But until now, there has been no firsthand account by someone who came through such hell and survived.

Title: Africa is Not a Country Author: Margy Burns Knight Language: English Age Group: Ages 6 to 12 Year: 2002 Length: 48 pp Publisher: Millbrook Press Type: Non-Fiction

Description: Instead of the "vanishing tribes" view of one Africa with tourists from different countries photographing the animals and primitive people, this informative picture book celebrates the diversity of the 53 nations that make up the continent today. On each page there's a quick vignette of children in one country, with a bright, happy, colorful illustration. Three girls in school uniform walk on Cairo's jammed city sidewalks. A boy in Nigeria practices the ancient Igbo dances. At the back a small note on each country fills in facts about geography, currency, population, etc.

Title: Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students Author: John Middleton Language: English Age Group: Ages 12 to 16 Year: 2001 Length: 900 pp Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons Type: Non-Fiction

Description: A comprehensive look at the continent of Africa and the countries that comprise it, including peoples and cultures, the land and its history, art and architecture, and daily life.

Title: African Mask, The Author: Janet Rupert Language: English Age Group: Ages 12 to 16 Year: 1994 Length: 146 pp Publisher: Clarion Books Type: Fiction

Description: This is the story of twelve-year-old Layo, a Yoruba girl living in the area of eleventh-century Africa which is now Nigeria. Layo has no thoughts of marriage. Her joy lies in making pottery, and she greatly admirers her grandmother's success in that art. When her parents demand that she leave her sleepy little village and visit the bustling city to meet her betrothed, she sees her dream slipping away.

Title: Ancient Kushites, The Author: Liz Sonneborn Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2005 Length: 112 pp Publisher: Scholastic Press Type: Non-Fiction

Description: Liz Sonneborn is a prolific author who has written biographies, source books and general history books on a broad spectrum of topics for young people and adults. The Ancient Kushites begins with the story of the 1905 discovery by archaeologists of the Kush kingdom, one of the world’s greatest ancient civilizations which had heretofore been overshadowed by its northern neighbor, Egypt. Lavishly illustrated and filled with details which bring history to life for middle school students, the book not only covers the ancient period of Kushite culture (3000 B.C. to 500 A.D.), but also relates how Nubian conversion to Christianity led to continued clashes with Egypt after its take-over by Islamic Arabs in 642, and how the construction of the Aswan Dam in 1961 sparked new interest in this ancient culture.

Title: Apartheid: Calibrations of Color Author: Patra McSharry Language: English Age Group: Ages 12 to 16 Year: 1991 Length: 172 pp Publisher: Rosen Publishing Group Type: Non-Fiction

Description: A collection of writings and photographs by South Africans who share "a vision of a nonracial future." Selections include such different genres and points of view as a satirical play by a white South African; a black photographer's pictures of rural tenant laborers; a long piece from a historical novel about the life of a slave; the description by a black (presumably American) of anti-apartheid demonstrations at Columbia University in New York; the account of a Durban trade union theater center; and the story of a woman searching for her dead son in Scotland.

Title: Aya of Yop City Author: Margaret Abouet, Clement Oubrerie, Illustrator Language: English Age Group: Ages 14 to Adult Year: 2008 Length: 112 pp Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux Type: Fiction

Description: In this sequel to Aya, the original cast of characters are back including Aya's friend Adjoua who is adjusting to the responsibilities of motherhood. Review In Aya of Yop City, Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie's second joint venture into the realm of the graphic novel, we follow the title character into the wider world of Yopongon or Yop City, a working class neighborhood in Abidjan. In the first book, Aya is a serious young woman who refused to succumb to the adulterous affairs and interpersonal chaos that surrounded her, determined to go to medical school and become a doctor. In the second book, the reader views Aya in a broader more complicated context, yet she manages to maintain her determination to define her own life. Many of the subplots of the first book continue in the second. Some questions are answered. Some characters grow in their maturity, whereas other characters regress and disappoint.

Title: Babu's Song Author: Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2003 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Lee & Low Books Type: Fiction

Description: Bernardi lives in a Tanzanian village with his grandfather, Babu, a mute toymaker. Bernardi loves to play soccer with the local schoolboys, but he doesn't have enough money to attend class. When Babu presents Bernardi with a music box that plays a special melody Babu once sang, the boy is joyful and cherishes his gift, until he's offered a large sum for it at a street market and sells the box. Guilt-ridden, he's unable to buy a coveted soccer ball, as he had planned. At home, he confesses to Babu, who comforts him with a handmade soccer ball and then spends the money on a wonderful surprise: a uniform and school tuition.

Title: Beatrice's Goat Author: Page McBrier Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2001 Length: 40 pp Publisher: Atheneum Type: Fiction

Description: An impoverished family begins to flourish after receiving a special gift--of the four-legged variety--in this uplifting picture book set in western Uganda. Beatrice longs to attend school with other village children, but instead she must tend her five younger siblings and help her mother in the fields. Everything starts to change, however, when Beatrice and her family receive a goat, "a lucky gift," says her mother, from a charitable organization. As the months pass, the animal provides the family with sweet milk to enjoy and sell and a pair of kids that will eventually be sold as well. With the goat's bounty, the family soon has enough money to send Beatrice to school.

Title: Big Boy Author: Tololwa M. Mollel Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1997 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Clarion Books Type: Fiction

Description: Inspired by a theme from African folklore, Mollel tells the story of Oli, who is granted a wish by Tunukia-zawadi, a magical bird. Oli grows from a little boy who has to take a daily nap and obey his mother to a boy of great height who can do anything he wants. He neither aids nor hurts anyone with his strength and power, but in the end shows himself to be a child in a gigantic body by the choices he makes and the things he does. Set in modern-day Africa, the story is beautifully illustrated with watercolor paintings.

Title: Bikes for Rent Author: Isaac Olayeye Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2001 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Orchard Type: Fiction

Description: A modest but pleasing story about Lateef, a boy growing up in a rainforest village of western Nigeria. He longs to rent an old bike from Babatunde, the bicycle-stall keeper, but his parents are too poor to give him the rent money. Not only does Lateef find ways to earn the money himself, but, with practice, he becomes a skilled rider. How he and Babatunde strike a bargain that earns Lateef "his very own almost-new bike" will satisfy young listeners as well as make them realize that daily life in a Nigerian village bears many resemblances to their own. Demarest's lively watercolor and black-line drawings provide just the right graphic accompaniment.

Title: Boundless Grace Author: Mary Hoffman Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2000 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Puffin Type: Fiction

Description: The irrepressible heroine of Amazing Grace (Dial, 1991) is back in this realistic adventure of the heart. A lover of stories, Grace longs for a family like the ones she reads about in her books. She has a secure and happy home with her ma, her nana, and her cat, but feels she's missed out by not having a father, a brother, and a dog. Her own father moved to Africa after her parents' divorce and began a new family there. One day her mother surprises her with the news that her dad has sent tickets for Grace and Nana to come for a visit. Arriving in The Gambia, she finds the storybook family she's been looking for, but it doesn't seem to include her. "'I'm one girl too many. Besides, it's the wrong Ma,'" she says. Jatou doesn't fit the model of any of the stepmothers Grace has read about, but she promises her father she'll try to like the woman since they are both so important to him. Through the wonderful visit and getting to know her stepfamily Grace learns to embrace life even when it isn't picture perfect.

Title: Captive, The Author: Joyce Hansen Language: English Age Group: Ages 10 to 16 Year: 1995 Length: 195 pp Publisher: Scholastic Press Type: Fiction

Description: The carefree existence of narrator Kofi, the 12-year-old son of a West African Ashanti chief, is shattered when the family's slave sells him to a slave trader in 1788. Recaptured after a brief escape, Kofi ends up in chains on a slaver bound for Boston. After a harrowing journey, during which most of the captives--children all--and much of the crew die, Kofi and his ailing friend Joseph are included in the bargain when Master Browne buys an English cabin boy's contract for indentured servitude. Taken to Salem, Kofi learns to speak English (and to read, until Browne stops his wife's teaching). The three boys labor from before dawn till after dark six days a week, enduring their Puritan master's floggings and torturous hours of prayer. They run away during the election celebrations, when the ``white men who have money and property vote for a new government to tax them and tell them what to do.'' Pursued by Browne, they are taken in by Paul Cuffe, a historical African American Quaker sea captain, who argues successfully in court for the release of the two slaves to his care. Hansen's ( The Gift-Giver ; Home Boy ) thoughtfully researched and eye-opening story offers a deeply moving, Afrocentric perspective on the brutal inequities of American life in the nation's earliest, perhaps most idealistic years--and now.

Title: Chanda's Secrets Author: Allan Stratton Language: English Age Group: Ages 12 to 16 Year: 2004 Length: 196 pp Publisher: Annick Press Type: Fiction

Description: Chanda, 16, remembers the good times, when she lived with both parents on a cattle post in sub-Saharan Africa and even later on when her family moved to Bonang. Her family's troubles began after her father was killed in the diamond mines. Her first stepfather abused her; the second died of a stroke; the third is a drunken philanderer. Although Chanda lives in a world in which illness and death have become commonplace, it is not one in which AIDS can be mentioned. The horror and desperation of families facing this disease is brought home when her latest stepfather's sister dumps the dying man in front of their shantytown house. Before Chanda can get help from the hospital caseworker, he disappears and the wagon that brought him is burned. Her mother leaves to visit her family on the cattle post and Chanda is forced to give up her dream of further education to care for her younger sister and brother. Slowly she comes to realize that her mother has AIDS, and that she might be infected herself. But Chanda's education serves her well as she faces the disease head-on. In a sad but satisfying ending, she rescues her mother so that she can die at home and she and her siblings get themselves tested. Smart and determined, Chanda is a character whom readers come to care for and believe in, in spite of her almost impossible situation. The details of sub-Saharan African life are convincing and smoothly woven into this moving story of poverty and courage, but the real insight for readers will be the appalling treatment of the AIDS victims. Strong language and frank description are appropriate to the subject matter.

Title: Circle Unbroken: the Story of a Basket and its People Author: Margot Theis Raven Language: English Age Group: Ages 5 to 10 Year: 2004 Length: 48 pp Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Type: Fiction

Description: A specialist in historical fiction for children, Margot Raven concentrates on the lives of children in times of upheaval - Dust Bowl Depression, war-torn Berlin, desegregating baseball leagues in the south. With Circle Unbroken: the Story of a Basket and its People, our 2005 Honor Book for Young Children, Raven tells the history of the Gullah people in South Carolina and their links to Sierra Leone through the art of sweetgrass weaving.

Title: Day Gogo Went to Vote, The Author: Eleanor Batezat Sisulu Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1999 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers Type: Fiction

Description: Thembi accompanies her hundred-year-old great-grandmother to the polling place in the first election in which black South Africans are allowed to vote. Infirm and housebound, Gogo is determined to vote and does so with a little help from her community. Excellent pastel pictures capture the happy occasion.

Title: Diamonds in the Shadow Author: Caroline Cooney Language: English Age Group: Ages 11 to Adult Year: 2007 Length: 229 pp Publisher: Delacorte Press Type: Fiction

Description: Wonder what it would be like to enter the United States as a refugee from violence in your home country? Or how an American teenager would react to sharing his bedroom and school life with a boy who whose family has suffered unbelievable horrors? Diamonds in the Shadow is a fictional book that takes us into the resettlement of a refugee family. Sponsored by a church group, the American Fitchs agree to take the Amabo family into their home when other housing falls through. We follow them to the airport when they meet the Amabos and bring them back to their suburban community. Yet it is not a simple story of a refugee family. Through plot twists we learn of how the father, Andre, had his arms hacked off and how Alake, the teenage girl, became a child soldier. They turn out to be from Sierra Leone rather than Liberia. The story weaves back and forth from the perspectives of teenage Jared, who at first can't believe he has to share his bedroom with the refugee son, Mattu, and the perspectives of Victor, the fifth refugee, a violent war criminal who has used the family to smuggle diamonds out of Sierra Leone. Within a few pages it becomes clear that the family has been terrorized by Victor. Only later does Jared and then his parents realize that this is not a family, that the children do not belong to Andre and Celestine. The story verges on a thriller as Victor arrives in their town ready to do anything to get back the diamonds. Part mystery, part chronicle of the terrors of war, Diamonds in the Shadow demonstrates the complexity of war-torn Sierra Leone and the naivety of American do-gooders who often have no idea of what refugees have experienced in their own country or are experiencing in their new one. The book does get beyond the usual platitudes and stereotypes as it touches upon the emotions and struggles of people who have been tortured in mind and body.

Title: Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay Author: David C. Conrad Language: English Age Group: Ages 11 to 14 Year: 2005 Length: 128 pp Publisher: Facts on File Type: Non-Fiction

Description: David Conrad Professor of History at SUNY Oswego, David Conrad is one of the foremost scholars on West African history. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, president of the Mande Studies Association and study leader for a Smithsonian Institution tour of West Africa, and has written a dozen books on West African history, culture, musical and oral epic traditions. The Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali and Songhay is part of an 8-volume Great Empires of the Past series published by Facts on File in 2005. This 128-page volume’s illustrations include 13 photographs by the author. It is notable for correcting the out-of-date information from secondary sources often included in texts for middle school world history courses. Conrad connects the historical traditions of West Africa to contemporary religion, music and cuisine.

Title: Fatuma’s New Cloth Author: Leslie Bulion Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2002 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Moon Mountain Publishing Type: Fiction

Description: In Bulion's tender tale set in East Africa, the traditions of chai (tea) and kanga cloth contribute to a mother's gentle lesson to her daughter. Mama and Fatuma walk to market where the girl will choose kanga cloth for a dress. Tadgell's (Just Call Me Joe Joe) luminescent watercolors depict the flowing grass and vermilion flowers that line the path to town; Mama's blue and golden kanga drapes gently over her head and shoulders. "Will you sew my new kanga when we get home from the market?" the child asks. When Mama promises to make chai as well, a trio of friendly vendors each offer a special ingredient for the brew, but none makes the chai "taste sweet like [Mama's]." Fanciful patterned borders on each spread hint at what's to come when Mama and Fatuma finally meet with the cloth vendor. Beautiful colors and fabrics fill the spreads as Fatuma searches for "a kanga the color of the deep sea and the early morning sky." When she finds it, Mama reads her the words embedded in the design "Don't be fooled by the color. The good flavor of chai comes from the sugar" and explains that what makes a person special is not always evident to the eye.

Title: Gugu's House Author: Catherine Stock Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2001 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Clarion Books Type: Fiction

Description: Kukamba loves to visit her grandmother, Gugu. Though the village where Gugu lives is dry and dusty, her house is big and sprawling and unlike any other. The courtyard and walls are decorated with beautiful paintings and clay animals, all made by Gugu herself. Best of all, when Kukamba visits, she gets to help shape and paint some of the wonderful zebras, elephants, and birds that Gugu is always adding to the house. When the heavy rains come and her grandmother's showpieces are destroyed, Kukamba is crushed. But the Gugu helps her see that an ending can also be a beginning, and art is not the only beauty the world has to offer. Set in the grassy plains of Zimbabwe and gracefully illustrated in watercolors, GUGU'S HOUSE is a unique tribute to the spirit of creativity and the immutable cycles of nature.

Title: Halala Means Welcome: A Book of Zulu Words Author: Ken Wilson-Max Language: English/Zulu Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1998 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Jump At The Sun Type: Fiction

Description: An excellent picture-book introduction to the Zulu language. Wilson-Max begins with a map of the African continent that highlights South Africa, the land of the Zulu people. Readers are then introduced to two boys who live there. Michael visits Chidi, who takes his friend through his home and identifies parts of the house, his toys, the family garden, and animals. Each short recounting of Michael's visit is followed by a two-page uncluttered spread of bold, simple watercolor illustrations of the items Chidi mentions. Young readers will learn that the lives and interests of these children are very similar to their own. The English terms appear next to the bold print Zulu words.

Title: Heaven Shop, The Author: Deborah Ellis Language: English Age Group: Ages 10 to 14 Year: 2004 Length: 186 pp Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Type: Fiction

Description: A mental health professional before becoming an author of children's books, Deborah Ellis specializes in stories about children in crisis situations around the world. The Heaven Shop, CABA 2005 Honor Book for Older Readers, depicts the contemporary situation of AIDS orphans in Malawi. Her previous novels addressed the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and in Toronto. She won the Canadian Governor General's Award for Excellence in Children's Literature in 2000.

Title: Here Comes Our Bride! Author: Ifeoma Onyefulu Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2005 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books Type: Fiction

Description: Here Comes Our Bride! is the third of the author's photographic story books depicting family ceremonies in modern Nigeria.

Title: How the Amazon Queen Fought the Prince of Egypt Author: Tamara Bower Language: English Age Group: Ages 7 to 11 Year: 2005 Length: 40 pp Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers Type: Fiction

Description: Papyrus fragments in an Austrian museum tell the story of an Egyptian prince who leads his army to Assyria to challenge the rule of Queen Serpot and her Amazon women warriors. Defeated on the battlefield, the Egyptian formed an alliance with the Queen to jointly pursue other foes across the Middle East. How the Amazon Queen Fought the Prince of Egypt is Tamara Bower’s second children’s book to receive widespread acclaim for bringing an ancient story to life with illustrations that showcase her expertise in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and mural painting styles. This book has been honored by the American Library Association’s Amelia Bloomer Project, 2006, and named one of the New York Public Library’s One hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2005. Ms Bower’s first book, The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs, published in 2000, was chosen by the Bank Street College of Education for The Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2001.

Title: I Lost my Tooth in Africa Author: Penda Diakite Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2007 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Scholastic Press Type: Non-Fiction

Description: I lost my tooth in Africa is a vibrant, lively story about eight year old Amina, who takes a long journey from America to Africa, to visit her family in Mali. When Amina looses her tooth in Mali, places it under a gourd and tangles with the African tooth-fairy, she learns that growing up is also about responsibility.

Title: Ikenna Goes to Nigeria Author: Ifeoma Onyefulu Language: English Age Group: Ages 6 to 10 Year: 2007 Length: 37 pp Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books Type: Non-fiction

Description: Ikenna is looking forward to lots of sun when he goes to Nigeria - even though he and his mum are going during the rainy season. In Lagos, he plays with his cousins before driving to Onitsha to see other relatives. Then the rain starts! But there is still lots to do including meeting Great-Uncle Hillary, who drove the royal train across Nigeria in 1956, and going with his mum to the Osun Festival at Osogbo, where he is surrounded by the sights and sounds of age-old ceremonies and traditions. Ikenna feels sad leaving his big family behind, but he's determined to visit Nigeria again.

Title: Illustrator's Notebook, The Author: Mohieddin Ellabbad Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2006 Length: 36 pp Publisher: Groundwood Books Type: Non-Fiction

Description: The famous Egyptian illustrator Mohieddin Ellabbad presents his "notebook" which shares how he grew up and took on his profession. He uses text, photographs, drawings, and Arabic script to communicate his aspirations as an artist. Most compelling are the questions he raises for readers, for example, "Where do stories come from?" and "How does the way you feel affect the way you draw?" Younger readers will be delighted by how he combines images and shows the change in his country over time.

Title: It Takes a Village Author: Jane Cowen-Fletcher Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1994 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Scholastic Press Type: Fiction

Description: A wonderfully illustrated story based on a West African proverb. Yemi's mother asks her to care for her younger brother and the girl is delighted at the prospect of taking on a grown-up task. The three of them set out to the village market, where Mama will sell mangoes. Yemi soon loses Kokou, but instead of the terrible things she imagines happening to him, the toddler is lovingly cared for by all of the adults he meets-he is fed, given something to drink, played with, and allowed to nap. The bright watercolors depict the people's multicolored garb and show various aspects of village life, especially the workings of an open-air market. Men and women, young and old, are shown selling peanuts, cloth, pottery, and mats. In the end, Yemi learns, along with readers, that "It takes a village to raise a child."

Title: Jamela's Dress Author: Niki Daly Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2004 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Type: Fiction

Description: Daly splashes luminous watercolors across the pages of this warmly evocative picture book, set in his native South Africa. Jamela's mother purchases a length of costly fabric for a wedding, and after washing it, leaves Jamela in charge of the cloth while it dries. Jamela, however, can't resist playing dress-up with the gorgeous material. As she struts through town trailing the fabric like a train, passersby greet her with the refrain "Kwela Jamela African Queen!" She poses for a triumphant photo, but is crestfallen when a boy on a bike accidentally spoils the fabric. But all's well that ends wellA when her photographer friend wins a cash prize for the photo he took of regal Jamela, he replaces the ruined material.

Title: Kings and Queens of West Africa  Author: Sylviane A. Diouf Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2000 Length: 63 pp Publisher: Franklin Watts Type: Non-Fiction

Description: For many centuries there have been organized states and powerful empires in West Africa. Their wealth came from agriculture and mining, which gave rise to trade through the region and with Central and North Africa. Emperor Mansa Musa who reigned over Mali in the 14th century established trade and cultural relations with the Islamic world. King Osei Tutu of Asante (17th century Ghana) used commercial ties with the Europeans to expand his territories. Ndate yalla Mobdj, queen of Walo in 19th century Senegal tried to protect the trade and independence of her realm from a French takeover. These royal figures shaped the course of history in West Africa through their strength, wisdom and vision. Readers get to examine these great lives and their impact on the region today.

Title: Magic Gourd, The Author: Baba Wague Diakite Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2003 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Scholastic Press Type: Fiction

Description: With characteristic energy and spirit, Diakite retells a tale from his native Mali and illustrates it with painted, boldly patterned art created from ceramics. Searching for food for his famine-stricken family, Brother Rabbit pauses to free a chameleon from a thorn bush, and, in return, receives a magic bowl that fills with anything upon request. After a greedy king seizes the bowl, Chameleon gives Rabbit another gift--a rock that wreaks havoc on anyone who does not speak to it with respect. Rabbit uses the rock to regain his prize--and by choosing to leave the royal treasure behind, is able to reform the king. Bordering each ceramic design is a different "mud cloth" textile pattern, the meaning of which the artist explains in a lengthy postscript.

Title: Master Weaver From Ghana, The Author: Gilbert Ahiagble Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 1998 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Open Hand Publishing Type: Non-Fiction

Description: A first-rate look at an art form that has been a livelihood in this African nation for hundreds of years. Information on Ahiagble and his family, featured in the book, with details about their lifestyle and the history and technique of strip weaving by the Ewe people, are clearly presented through text and full-color photographs. The authors convey a marvelous feeling for the life and culture of these Ghanaians.

Title: Middle Passage, The Author: Tom Feelings Language: English Age Group: Ages 10 to 16 Year: 1995 Length: 80 pp Publisher: Dial Type: Non-Fiction

Description: Feelings's art speaks to the soul in this magnificent visual record of the Black Diaspora in the Americas. Clarke provides a concise narrative of the slave trade, and then readers pause at a double-spread image of a man, woman, bird, sun, and land before the pages become horrific. Guns, yokes, chains, whips, knives?one can see anger, grief, sadness, pain, and almost hear the screams coming from the captives' open mouths. The crowded holes, ankle chains, branding, rats, and sharks swarming around the ship as bodies are thrown overboard all build, image by image, to the reality of man's inhumanity to man.

Title: My Father's Shop Author: Satomi Ichikawa Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2006 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Kane/Miller Book Publishers Type: Fiction

Description: In Satomi Ichikawa's delightful and colorful story, we follow the adventure of young Mustafa as he learns about his father's trade as a rug seller in a southern Moroccan town and about communicating with others, in this case, tourists from around the world.

Title: My Great-Grandmother's Gourd  Author: Cristina Kessler Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2000 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Scholastic Press Type: Fiction

Description: A delightful story about keeping old traditions while accepting those that are new. The people of a Sudanese village are excited about a shiny new water pump. Never again will they have to use old methods for getting water-or so they think. Fatima's grandmother, however, remembers how people relied on storing water in the baobab trees in the past, and she is determined to prepare her tree before the rains come, despite the ridicule of her neighbors. Then, one day, the pump breaks and the villagers appreciate the old woman's caution.

Title: My Rows and Piles of Coins Author: Tololwa M. Mollel Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1999 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Clarion Books Type: Fiction

Description: The market is full of wonderful things, but Saruni is saving his precious coins for a red and blue bicycle. How happy he will be when he can help his mother carry heavy loads to market on his very own bicycle--and how disappointed he is to discover that he hasn't saved nearly enough! Determination and generosity are at the heart of this satisfying tale, set in Tanzania and illustrated with glowing watercolors that capture the warmth of Saruni's family and the excitement of market day.

Title: Mzungu Boy, The Author: Meja Mwangi Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2005 Length: 160 pp Publisher: Groundwood Books Type: Fiction

Description: An award-winning Kenyan, novelist, film writer and director Meja Mwangi was born in Nanyuki, Kenya, in 1948 and grew up under British colonial rule in the tumultuous 1950s. An afterword explains the historical context for this realistic novel of friendship between 12-year old boys, one from a rural village and the other from Britain, visiting his grandfather’s ranch in Kenya in the late 1950s. Other works by Mr. Mwangi available in the U.S. are titled Kill Me Quick, Going Down River Road, Striving for the Wind, and The Last Plague.

Title: New King, The Author: Doreen Rappaport Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1995 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Dial Type: Fiction

Description: A thoughtful folktale from Madagascar and spare, painterly watercolors affectingly cohere in this compassionate book about a boy's encounter with death. When his father the king is killed on a hunt, the crown prince-the "new king"-commands assorted court potentates to revive him. When they are unable to help, the vexed child consults the Wise Woman, who teaches him about death and immortality with a parable about "the first human couple," who were given a choice between renewal ("dying like the moon") or enabling a new generation ("dying like the banana tree").

Title: No More Strangers Now: Young Voices from a New South Africa Author: Tim McKee Language: English Age Group: Ages 10 to 16 Year: 2000 Length: 112 pp Publisher: DK Children Type: Non-Fiction

Description: Through powerful personal narratives and photographs, this remarkable book brings together twelve South African teenagers whose distinct voices illuminate their experiences under apartheid and the joyous yet challenging years of freedom since. In their own words, these teens reveal what it was like to grow up in a country bitterly divided by racial separation, violence, and poverty. Eighteen-year-old Bandile Mashinini tells of police breaking down his door night after night because of his family’s outspoken resistance to apartheid. Sixteen-year-old Ricardo Thando Tollie speaks of living in a tin shack only a few miles from the elegant houses of white suburbs. And fifteen-year-old Lesandra Jansen van Vuuren describes her isolated childhood as a white South African, taught to fear and mistrust people with skin darker than her own. But here, too, are stories of hope; of a willingness to reach out, to forgive, and to heal. Although they speak with a diverse range of voices, experiences, and attitudes, these young people are united in the belief that the new South Africa will truly be different from the one they have known. Their lives stand testament to the power and resilience of the human spirit and to a country’s ability to redefine itself.

Title: No Turning Back Author: Beverley Naidoo Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 16 Year: 1999 Length: 208 pp Publisher: HarperTrophy Type: Fiction

Description: Escaping from his violent stepfather, twelve-year-old Sipho heads for Johannesburg where he has heard that gangs of children live on the streets. Surviving hunger and the bitter-cold winter nights is hard enough but Sipho also has to learn, in the 'new' South Africa, whom to trust. What kind of friendships can he have with the other homeless streetchildren? Or with Judy, a white girl who pressurises her father to offer Sipho help? Set on the eve of South Africa's first democratic elections, against a background of political upheaval, what hopes can Sipho carry for his personal future?

Title: Old African, The Author: Julius Lester Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2005 Length: 80 pp Publisher: Penguin Group Type: Fiction

Description: Julius Lester won the Newberry Honor Award in 1969 for his first children’s book, To Be a Slave, a collection of fiction tales based on the oral histories of slaves. He returns to this mold with the 2005 publication of The Old African, which conveys insights into traditional African religion as well as the physical and emotional pain of the trans-Atlanta passage to slavery while telling the legend of escaped Georgian slaves who walked back to their homeland in Nigeria. In addition to winning almost every children’s book award during 47 years of authorship, Mr. Lester started teaching at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1971 in the Department of Afro-American studies, later transferring to the Department of Near-Eastern and Judaic studies. Now Professor Emeritus, Mr. Lester was awarded the Massachusetts State Professor of the Year Award and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Gold Medal Award for National Professor of the Year, both in 1986, amid many other awards for teaching and research. Jerry Pinkney One of America’s most distinguished and prolific artist-illustrators, Jerry Pinkney has collaborated with Julius Lester on five books for young people, including John Henry which won the 1995 Caldecott Honor and the Horn Book Picture award. Mr. Pinkney is the only artist to win the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration five times. He also was chosen by his artistic peers at the Society of Illustrators for their annual Stevan Dohanos Award. He designed twelve postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage series and is a current member of the National Council on the Arts. His 32 watercolor paintings illustrating The Old African convey the horrors of slavery with such visual impact that this legendary tale should replace all textbooks on this subject.

Title: Once Upon A Time Author: Niki Daly Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2004 Length: 25 pp Publisher: Frances Lincoln Childrens Books Type: Fiction

Description: Sarie dreads being called on to read aloud in class because the kids laugh at her stammering and stumbling. They even tease her after school. On Sunday while her family rests, Sarie runs across the veld to Auntie Anna's. Sitting in Auntie's rusty, wheel-less old car, she and Auntie pretend to go for a Sunday drive while Auntie tells stories of "once upon a time" when she was young and her car was shiny and new. Then Sarie reveals how much she hates reading aloud and being laughed at. When Sarie finds an old book stuck in the back seat, the Cinderella story becomes her own; with the help of a prince of a friend and her auntie's wisdom, she overcomes her problem.

Title: Only a Pigeon Author: Jane and Christopher Kurtz Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1997 Length: 40 pp Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Type: Fiction

Description: "In Ethiopia,/a land of ancient churches and castles" begins this beautiful book, moving swiftly from broad, poetic images of the country to a narrative about the life of an individual boy. Lewis's watercolors accurately portray the city of Addis Ababa, from morning sunshine to evening darkness, and to the breaking of the next day. The full-page, realistic paintings are rendered in dusty tones of brown and green. The story focuses on Ondu-ahlem and his relationships with a brother, his friends, and his pigeons. The birds are all that he owns in the world, and he nurtures them tenderly and protects them from a hungry mongoose. He shares his delight in some ready-to-hatch eggs with his little brother and competes with his friends as they race their favorite pigeons home. As Ondu-ahlem gets up in the morning from the mat he shares with two brothers, goes to school for half a day, and shines shoes in the afternoon to earn money, readers learn about how few possessions he has and that it is necessary that he contribute to the family's income. Beyond this, however, children will respond to the suspense of the pigeon race and the threat of a predator, and they will identify with Ondu-ahlem.

Title: Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth, The Author: Sankofa, David A. Anderson, and Kathleen Atkins Wilson Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 1991 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Sights Productions Type: Non-Fiction

Description: This Yoruba creation myth begins in the heavenly court of the all-powerful and his agents, male and female orishas. All the orishas are content, save one named Obtala, whose wondering impels him to employ his power in some meaningful way. He prepares thoughtfully for this work, aided by his fellow orishas, and descends from heaven on a golden chain. He takes soil that has been sown with the personality of the orishas and forms humans in his own image,``carefully and lovingly,'' so that the resulting creatures (even the imperfect ones) are ``beautiful to behold.'' The all-powerful then brings them to life and sets the earth spinning, completing this noble, reverent, and positive tale. In the colorful illustrations, glowing with hot yellow and sapphire, ebony silhouettes are effectively set off by elegant, vibrantly patterned clothing and gold ornaments. The bright backgrounds recall batiked African textiles.

Title: Other Side of Truth, The Author: Beverley Naidoo Language: English Age Group: Ages 10 to 16 Year: 2000 Length: 249 pp Publisher: Harper Collins Type: Fiction

Description: Twelve-year old Sade's journalist father is a vocal critic of the corrupt military government in Nigeria. When Sade's mother is murdered, her family sees in bloody detail the violent risks that come with exposing the truth. Awarded the 200 Carnegie Medal and chosen by young readers as the recipient of England's prestigious Smarties Silver Medal, Beverly Naidoo's The Other Side of Truth expores the issues of family, exile, and freedom.

Title: Our Stories, Our Songs: African Children Talk about AIDS Author: Deborah Ellis Language: English Age Group: Ages 10 to Adult Year: 2005 Length: 101 pp Publisher: Fitzhenry and Whiteside Type: Non-Fiction

Description: In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are more than 11.5 million orphans. The AIDS pandemic has claimed their parents, their aunts, and their uncles. What is life like for these children? Who do they care for, and who cares for them? Come and meet them. They might surprise you.

Title: Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope Author: Beverley Naidoo Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2003 Length: 192 pp Publisher: Harper Collins Type: Fiction

Description: With stunning clarity, this remarkable collection of stories reminds us that, as Desmond Tutu writes in his appreciative foreword, "there is a beast in each of us, and none of us can ever say we would never be guilty of such evil." As Hazel Rochman's compilation Somehow Tenderness Survives: Stories from Southern Africa (rev. 3/89) did before it, Naidoo's book reveals our humanity and inhumanity with starkness and precision. Each of the seven stories is set in a different decade--from the 1940s to 2000--to illustrate the changing political realities of South Africa.

Title: Rise of the Golden Cobra Author: Henry T. Aubin Language: English Age Group: Ages 12 to Adult Year: 2007 Length: 255 pp Publisher: Annick Press Type: Fiction

Description: Though only 14, Nebi is caught up in events that will shape his country’s future. When his master is brutally slain, he barely escapes into the desert. As the sole survivor of the treacherous attack, Nebi knows that only one man can stave off the destruction of Egypt’s great civilization. That man is Piankhy, ruler of the African kingdom of Kush (located in present-day Sudan). In desperation, Nebi flees to King Piankhy to warn him of the invasion. This epic adventure dramatizes the true story of this chivalrous king’s military campaign of 734 B.C.E. Through Nebi’s eyes, this world of brutal ground battles, ship-to-ship combat, and assaults on cities comes to life. But another struggle is raging in the young man’s heart: Should he seek revenge against his murderous personal enemy, Count Nimlot? Or should he forgive him his terrible crimes?

Title: Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay, The Author: Patricia and Frederick McKissack Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 1995 Length: 128 pp Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Type: Non-Fiction

Description: The McKissacks ( Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? ) continue to illuminate aspects of African American heritage with this introduction to three major kingdoms of medieval Africa: Ghana, Mali and Songhay. Based on folklore, contemporaneous accounts and modern scholarly research, their discussion covers the origins, customs, people and political history of these civilizations, which flourished from approximately A.D. 500 to 1700 but which until recently have been neglected by historians.

Title: Saba: Under the Hyena's Foot Author: Jane Kurtz Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2003 Length: 210 pp Publisher: American Girl Type: Fiction

Description: Kurtz admirably offers readers the story of a young girl first and the historical details and political intrigue of Ethiopia in 1846 second. Saba is a simple country girl, living with her brother and overly protective grandmother. Suspense builds as the children disobediently venture out of their home. Kidnapped and taken to a faraway palace, Saba is confused, but by paying close attention to details, she is able to make sense of events. Her lack of understanding of the ways of the court gradually turns into an awareness of a severe, albeit camouflaged, threat to herself and her brother. Politics is at the heart of the story and complicated family relationships at the heart of the dilemma. Kurtz keeps the pages turning as she reveals Saba and her brother's place in the emperor's line. A descendant of the biblical Queen of Sheba, clever and resourceful Saba is determined to save not just herself, but her brother as well.

Title: Silly Mammo Author: Gebregeorgis Yohannes Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2002 Length: 30 pp Publisher: African Sun Publishing Type: Fiction

Description: When Mammo's loving mother sends him to work, he loses his wages, so she scolds him and tells him to put them in his pocket next time. The next day he finds work with a cattle herder, who pays him with milk, and remembering his mother's words, Mammo pours the milk in his pocket. The farce escalates until Mammo's wild mess-up makes a beautiful young woman laugh, which cures her of her inability to speak and prompts her grateful, wealthy father to allow Mammo to marry his daughter.

Title: Sofie and the City Author: Karima Grant Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2006 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Boyds Mill Press Type: Fiction

Description: Sofie does not like her new home. There are too many people in the city and none of them are friendly. Her mother works during the day, and her father must work at night. If this is life in America, Sofie would rather go back to Senegal. Each Sunday, Sofie speaks by phone to her gransmother. "It is really ugly her," she says, "I think I should come home." "Well," says her grandmother, "before you come back, you will just have to make it pretty." But how can Sofie ever make the city pretty? It all begins when she meets a girl with a box of chalk. Karima Grant's heartfelt story of a girl adjusting to life in a new world is warmly illustrated by Janet Monteclavo.

Title: Sosu’s Call Author: Meshack Asare Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2001 Length: 37 pp Publisher: Kane/Miller Book Publishers Type: Fiction

Description: Sosu lives in a small village "Somewhere on a narrow strip of land between the sea and the lagoon." Unable to walk and considered "bad luck" by the villagers, he is forced to stay at home with only a dog for company while his brother and sister attend school and his parents go to work. But when a storm causes the sea to overflow, threatening the lives of the young and the old, Sosu conquers his fear and, led by his dog, crawls through the "howling wind" and "churning water" to the drum in the chief's house. His drumming brings help, and in gratitude for the lives saved, the villagers provide Sosu with a wheelchair.

Title: Subira Subira Author: Tololwa M. Mollel Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2000 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Clarion Books Type: Fiction

Description: A Tanzanian girl discovers the all-important secret to getting along with her younger brother in this compelling adaptation of an African folktale. Following the death of their mother, Tatu must take on the responsibility of caring for Maulidi after school, while their father is still at work. Maulidi, obviously still grieving, disobeys and fights with his sister at every turn. Desperate, Tatu seeks advice from the spirit woman MaMzuka. MaMzuka promises that if Tatu can fetch three whiskers from a lion, she will have the power to change her brother's ways. Tatu soothes the lion with her beautiful singing voice and accomplishes the dangerous task. She also comes to understand that her singing--along with the same patience (the meaning of subira) and courage she showed the lion--will be just the remedy Maulidi needs.

Title: Sundiata: Lion King of Mali Author: David Wisniewski Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 1999 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Clarion Books Type: Non-Fiction

Description: An appealing biography of Sundiata, credited as the founder of the Mali empire. A lengthy author's note informs readers as to how little firsthand information on the topic is available, and that what is known has been handed down orally by griots , or African storytellers. Therefore, the narrative has the distinctive, if somewhat mystical, flow of an oral history. Sundiata neither walks nor speaks for the first seven years of his life, but is still named heir over his older brother. Regardless of the pronouncement, following the king's death, Sundiata and his mother are forced into exile. How the Lion King of Mali defeats his enemies and becomes the rightful ruler makes for an exciting tale.

Title: Talking Drums Author: Veronique Tadjo Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 2004 Length: 96 pp Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books Type: Fiction

Description: Veronique Tadjo is originally from Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), currently living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Talking Drums: A Selection of Poems from Africa South of the Sahara, CABA's 2005 Honor Book for Older Readers, is a selection of poems from throughout the continent. The anthology not only highlights traditional poems of several ethnic groups and 37 individual poets from 17 countries, but also includes poems of the African diaspora in the 21st century.

Title: Vacation in the Village Author: Pierre Yves Njeng Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 1999 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Boyds Mills Press Type: Fiction

Description: Nwemb, a young boy living in Cameroon, is unhappy to learn that his family will be leaving the city for a vacation in the village where his grandparents live. Once there, though, he makes friends with Masso and does exciting things with him, like fishing, exploring the forest, and listening to stories about their ancestors. As the vacation ends, Nwemb realizes that he has come to love the simple village life and vows to return soon.

Title: What's Cooking Jamela Author: Niki Daly Language: English Age Group: Ages 4 to 8 Year: 2001 Length: 32 pp Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Type: Fiction

Description: The child introduced in Jamela's Dress (Farrar, 1999) is back in another story set in her South African township. When her mother buys a live chicken to fatten up for Christmas dinner and puts Jamela in charge of its care, the girl names it "Christmas" and becomes so attached to it that she can't bear to let it be slaughtered-after all, "you can't eat friends." Energetic and exuberant watercolor artwork highlights Jamela's close-knit family and bustling community. An enjoyable read that children will ask for year-round.

Title: Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia Author: Won-Ldy Paye Language: English Age Group: Ages 9 to 12 Year: 1999 Length: 50 pp Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing Type: Fiction

Description: Paye is a tlo ker mehn from the Dan ethnic group of Liberia; his family's traditional role is to tell stories. He and Lippert have collected six traditional Dan stories. Told in a forthright, nonliterary style, the lively retellings make effective use of colloquial language. Several of the stories feature Spider the trickster, who may be known to kids as Anansi (or Ananse) from other traditional tales. Readers learn "Why Spider Has a Big Butt," what happens when he refuses to do his part on the village farm, and how his greediness is punished. Each selection is preceded by one of Bryan's appealing black-and-white linoleum prints.

Title: Wiil Waal: A Somali Folktale Author: by Retold By: Kathleen Moriarty (Author), Somali Translation By: Jamal Adam (Author), Amin Amir (Illustrator) Language: English/Somali Age Group: Ages 5 to 8 Year: 2007 Length: 28 pp Publisher: Type: Fiction

Description: A Somali-English Bilingual Children's Picture Book. The heart? The leg? The ribs? What part of the sheep is the answer to the Sultan s riddle? When wise Somali leader Wiil Waal asks the men in his province to bring him the part of a sheep that best symbolizes what can divide men or unite them as one, most present him with prime cuts of meat. But one very poor man's daughter has a different idea. In this clever folktale, a father reluctantly follows his daughter s advice and has astonishing results.