Verna Aardema is *the* children's author for Africa. Her stories,
based upon African folktales from around the central region of the continent,
are full of wonderful sound effects and clever characters. Most are "porquio"
tales - stories that explain why things are as they are. A good bibliography
of her works can be found here.
Hands down, our favorite Aardema book was Travelling to Tondo. We also
read and enjoyed How the Ostrich Got its Long Neck, The Lonely Lioness and
the Ostrich Chicks, and Anansi Does the Impossible.
From South Africa, we enjoyed a couple of interesting tales:
Jubela - Kessler. The story of an orphaned baby rhinoceros.
My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me - Maya Angelou. This is a
delightful introduction to the Ndebele people of So. Africa. We were inspired
to make Ndebele style art from the vibrant pictures in this book.
Safari Journal: the Adventures in Africa of Cary Monroe - Hudson Talbott (Kenya).
Twelve-year-old Casey is unhappy about being sent on a trip to Kenya with his
wacky Aunt Elaine, until he encounters fascinating customs, endangered animals,
and wild adventures.
Master Man - Aaron Shephard (Nigeria). A boastful strong man learns a lesson
harder than his muscles when he encounters one of Nigeria's superheroes in this
Hausa tale which explains the origin of thunder. A "comic book" style that was a nice
break from our usual literature format.
Bitter Bananas - Isaac Olalaye (Nigeria). When baboons begin stealing the
sweet palm sap that Yusuf sells at the market near his Nigerian village, what is
he to do?
My Great Grandmother's Gourd - Kessler. Residents of a Sudanese village
rejoice when a traditional water storage method is replaced by modern technology,
but Fatima's grandmother knows there is no substitute for the reliability of the
baobab tree.
In Egypt, we limited our resources somewhat by avoiding most of the
mummy/tomb/pyramid books. We'll be studying Ancient Egypt this fall and
wanted to save that good stuff for that time period. This really made finding
literature for Egypt difficult, but a few things did surface.
Zekmet the Stone Carver - by Mary Stolz. Chosen to design a magnificent
monument for a vain and demanding Pharoah, an Egyptian stone carver
conceives of and begins work on the Sphinx which still stands in the
Egyptian desert today. Not the "true" story of the Sphinx, but one person's
imaginative tale of how it may have been. (We'd read this tale before, so it
made the "cut" for Egypt this go around.)
The Egyptian Polar Bear - JoAnn Adinolfi. A lonely polar bear is swept away
on an iceberg and winds up in Egypt where he becomes the royal playmate of
Rahotep the boy king. The cover page indicates that one of the Egyptian royal
tombs included plans for a burial chamber for a polar bear! This is the "story
that had to be told" based on that discovery.