ICCAL » South Africa

Now Is The Time For Running

Book Importer — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:25:58 +0000

Just down the road from their families, Deo and his friends play soccer in the dusty fields of Zimbabwe, cheered on by Deo’s older brother, Innocent. It is a day like any other . . . until the soldiers arrive and Deo and Innocent are forced to run for their lives, fleeing the wreckage of their village for the distant promise of safe haven. Along the way, they face the prejudice and poverty that await refugees everywhere, and must rely on the kindness of people they meet to make it through. But when tragedy strikes, Deo’s love of soccer is all he has left. Can he use that gift to find hope once more?Relevant, timely, and accesibly written, Now Is the Time For Running is a staggering story of survival that follows Deo and his mentally handicapped older brother on a transformative journey that will stick with readers long after the last page.

Nabulela: A South African Folk Tale

Book Importer — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:00:35 +0000

When the village girls cruelly trick the daughter of their king, he will forgive them only if they kill Nabulela, a treacherous white-skinned monster.

This for That

Book Importer — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:00:35 +0000

Rabbit tricks the other animals of the African plain into giving her food and other treats.

Mary Malloy and the Baby Who Wouldn’t Sleep

Book Importer — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:00:35 +0000

The sly seductive moon makes off with a crying baby but is eventually outwitted by the clever Mr. Fez.

Waiting For The Rain (Laurel Leaf Books)

Book Importer — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:18:56 +0000

Tengo is the 10-year-old son of workers on Oom Koos’s large farm in the Transvaal. He longs to go to school like his friend Frikkie, who visits his uncle’s farm on holidays. But Tengo’s family is too poor to pay for the education that comes free to whites. He finally gets his wish at age 14. Tengo goes to live with his cousin in a squalid township outside Johannesburg and studies furiously. After three years, he is almost ready for college, but a year-long school boycott ruins his chances and he is drawn into the fight against apartheid. When he and Frikkie meet in a violent confrontation, Tengo realizes that he will carry on the struggle for freedom as a scholar, not a soldier. The writing here is powerful, evoking in minute detail daily life and the broad landscapes of the country.

Stones for My Father

Book Importer — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:18:56 +0000

The Boer War was disastrous for the British: 22,000 of them died. Close to 7,000 Boers died. Nobody knows how many Africans lost their lives, but the number is estimated to be around 20,000. This tragic, and little remembered, chapter in history is the backdrop for Trilby Kent’s powerful novel.Corlie Roux’s father has always told her that God gave Africa to the Boers. Her life growing up on a farm in South Africa is not easy: it is beautiful, but it is also a harsh place where the heat can be so intense that the very raindrops sizzle. When her beloved father dies, she is left in the care of a cold, stern mother who clearly favors her two younger brothers. But she finds solace with her African maitie, Sipho, and in Africa itself.Corlie’s world is about to vanish: the British are invading and driving Boers from their farms. The families who do not surrender escape to hidden laagers in the bush to help fight off the British. When Corlie’s laager is discovered, she and the others are sent to an internment camp.Corlie is strong and can draw on her knowledge of the land she loves, but is that enough to help her survive the starvation, disease, and loss that befalls her in the camp?

This Thing Called the Future

Book Importer — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:18:56 +0000

Khosi lives with her beloved grandmother Gogo, her little sister Zi, and her weekend mother in a matchbox house on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. In that shantytown, it seems like somebody is dying all the time. Billboards everywhere warn of the disease of the day. Her Gogo goes to a traditional healer when there is trouble, but her mother, who works in another city and is wasting away before their eyes, refuses even to go to the doctor. She is afraid and Khosi doesn’t know what it is that makes the blood come up from her choking lungs. Witchcraft? A curse? AIDS? Can Khosi take her to the doctor? Gogo asks. No, says Mama, Khosi must stay in school. Only education will save Khosi and Zi from the poverty and ignorance of the old Zulu ways.School, though, is not bad. There is a boy her own age there, Little Man Ncobo, and she loves the color of his skin, so much darker than her own, and his blue-black lips, but he mocks her when a witch’s curse, her mother’s wasting sorrow, and a neighbor’s accusations send her and Gogo scrambling off to the sangoma’s hut in search of a healing potion.J.L. Powers holds an MA in African history from State University of New York-Albany and Stanford University. She won a Fulbright-Hays grant to study Zulu in South Africa, and served as a visiting scholar in Stanford’s African Studies Department. This is her second novel for young adults.

A Song for Jamela

Book Importer — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:55:48 +0000

The summer holidays are here and Jamela is bored as a girl can be! All she can think about is the Afro-Idols TV final, so when she lands a job at Divine Braids hair salon, she can’t believe her eyes when Afro-Idols celebrity Miss Bambi Chaka Chaka arrives at the salon to be coiffed. But while Jamela’s idol dozes and Aunt Beauty designs her starry hairdo, a buzzy fly appears on the scene and threatens to ruin everything.

Goal!

Book Importer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:59:41 +0000

A lyrical, strikingly illustrated story celebrates the unifying power of soccer. In a dusty township in South Africa, Ajani and his friends have earned a brand-new, federation-size soccer ball. They kick. They dribble. They run. They score. These clever boys are football champions! But when a crew of bullies tries to steal their ball, will Ajani and his friends be able to beat them at their own game?

Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Book Importer — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:01:16 +0000

Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, offers a glimpse into the mind of a great leader, admired across the globe for his dedication to the struggles against apartheid in South Africa. Now the youngest readers can discover the remarkable story of Mandela’s long walk from ordinary village boy, to his dynamic leadership of the African National Congress, to his many long years in prison-and, at last, his freedom and astonishing rise to become the leader of his country.