Africa

Materials from Africa

Sierra Leone

This book provides a comprehensive look at the country of Sierra Leone, which gained independence in 1961. Located in western Africa, bordered by Guinea and Liberia, Sierra Leone is recovering from a lengthy civil war that left the country with many challenges. The text offers chapters on the geography, the history, the formation of its new government and its structure, the economy, the environment, the people of Siera Leone, their religion and culture. The book is illustrated with color photography.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.

Benin

This book provides a comprehensive look at the country of Benin which gained independence in 1961. Located between Nigeria and Togo, Benin is working to strengthen itself with a free press and a growing economy. The text offers chapters on the geography, the history, the formation of its new government and its structure, the economy, the environment, the people of Siera Leone, their religion and culture. The book is illustrated with color photography.

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement, grew up in the highlands of Kenya, where fig trees cloaked the hills, fish filled the streams, and the people tended their bountiful gardens. But over many years, as more and more land was cleared, Kenya was transformed. When Wangari returned home from college in America, she found the village gardens dry, the people malnourished, and the trees gone. How could she work to bring back the trees and restore the gardens and the people?

Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan

A young boy unites with thousands of other orphaned boys to walk to safety in a refugee camp in another country, after war destroys their villages in southern Sudan. Based on true events.

Awards:
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books

Akimbo And The Snakes

Akimbo can’t believe his luck when his father allows him to visit his uncle Peter’s snake park. And when a local village calls to report a sighting of a green mamba snake—the rarest and most deadly one of all—Akimbo hopes to help his uncle catch it for the park.  But little does he expect to find himself trapped face to face with the deadliest of reptiles. Bestselling novelist Alexander McCall Smith brings the majesty and dangers of Africa to life in this vividly imagined adventure for young readers.

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.

Born For Adventure

When young Tom Ormsby cons his way onto the great explorer Henry Morton Stanley’s “Relief of Emin Pasha Expedition” in 1887, he’s looking for adventure. But he has no idea what lies ahead of him. From the exotic bazaars of Zanzibar to the mouth of the Congo River and beyond, Tom soon learns he’s signed on for more than the rescue of the mysterious Pasha. He’s on a journey through the ravishing beauty and brutality of a jungle world peopled by slavers, warring tribes, cannibals, and colonial masters – all jockeying for survival in 19th-century Africa. As Karr follows Tom’s remarkable three-year trek, she raised some provocative questions about slavery, the right of one country to impose its cultural imperatives on another, and the arrogance that can prevent a man from achieving his ultimate goal. Startling, scary, and surprising, this true story takes the reader deep into the heart of the African past.