Saddened by the death of their special friend, the very old man who told them stories and jokes, the village children decide to go against custom and plant a tree for him in the Forest of the Ancestors.
Nigeria
Materials from Nigeria
Why the Sky Is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale
The sky was once so close to the Earth that people cut parts of it to eat, but their waste and greed caused the sky to move far away.
Hooray For Anna Hibiscus!
Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. She loves singing to her two baby brothers, Double and Trouble. But when she is chosen to sing for her school in front of the president, her throat runs dry and her bones turn to stone. Can Double and Trouble save her?
The Magic Tree: A Folktale From Nigeria
Although Mbi, an orphan boy, is constantly asked to “do this” and “do that” by his many unkind relatives until a special tree grows, just for him.
Good Luck, Anna Hibiscus!
Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. She cant wait to fly across the world and visit her Granny in Canada. But can she find warm clothes for the cold weather? And will her family even miss her?
Amadi’s Snowman
As a young Igbo man, Amadi does not understand why his mother insists he learn to read, since he already knows his numbers and will be a businessman one day, but an older boy teaches him the value of learning about the world through books.
Ancient African Town (Picture A Country)
The study of cultures of the past. A tour of Benin City, a West African town and capital of the Edo Empire, located in present-day Nigeria.
The Iroko-Man: A Yoruba Folktale
When the terrifying Iroko-man tries to take a woodcarver’s first-born child as partial payment for bringing fertility to his village, the father must find a clever solution.
Saying Good-bye: A Special Farewell to Mama Nkwelle
This deeply personal story looks at the stately Nigerian funeral for the author’s grandmother, said to be “the greatest traditional dancer of her generation,” as told by Onyefulu’s young son. “When Mama Nkwelle died, everyone came to say good-bye. Uncle Asika said it was a special good-bye. It took more days than I can count on my fingers.
Yoruba Girl Dancing
For Remi, growing up in Nigeria is a celebration of love and family, eccentricity and old ritual. She feels confident in her privilege and grounded in the heart of her culture. But when she turns six, she is sent to faraway England, to a posh all-girls’ boarding school where she will stay for what seems like a desolate, lonely eternity. There she’s left to find her own way – the only black in a school full of upper-class English girls whose rituals are as foreign to Remi as her’s are to them. Through sheer inner exuberance, Remi triumphs over the dismal climate, social anomalies, and glaring affronts that are her English experience. She endures foreign holidays celebrated with strangers, and navigates the labyrinth of race, caste, and culture, taking nothing lying down, and emerges victorious – if changed forever.
Yoruba Girl Dancing is the story of a girl’s exile from her homeland and her metamorphosis into someone that even she at times hardly recognizes.