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African Culture Booklist
for Children and Teens |
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These are some of our favorite books that feature African culture for children and teens. Please note that the books will be found in three different collections: Easy, Juvenile, and Teen. The Teen book selections include Teen Middle and Teen High books.
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Red shoes
by Karen English
Delighted when her Nana surprises her with a beautiful pair of red shoes that they admired in a shop window, Malika happily wears her wonderful shoes until outgrowing them and then decides to donate them to a resale shop, from where they travel across the world to Africa to become a gift for a another childs first Ramadan. Simultaneous eBook. Illustrations.
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B is for baby
by Atinuke
A baby and her brother take a basket full of bananas to visit their baba, and the baby sees many different animals along the way, including butterflies, birds, and baboons
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Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette WinterWhen she returns to her childhood home in Kenya and sees that the whole forest around her village is being cut down, courageous and determined Wangari starts planting trees in her own backyard and ends up in the midst of a movement that is respected around the world.
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Papa Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. JoosseWhen a Maasai father in Africa answers his son's questions, the boy learns that his father's love for him is unconditional, in a follow-up to Mama, Do You Love Me?
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Old Mikamba Had a Farm
by
Rachel Isadora
A striking adaptation of "Old MacDonald" features an aging African game farmer who watches over a wide variety of animals, from roaring lions and chirping ostriches to bellowing rhinos and honking wildebeests.
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Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John SteptoeMufaro's two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife. This Cinderella variant, based on a Kafir folk tale, won the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration.
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The Water Princess
by Susan Verde
A tale based on the supermodel's childhood follows the experiences of a young girl who dreams of bringing clean drinking water to her African village as she rises early every morning and makes long journeys to the well with a heavy pot that she carries on her head.
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Don't Spill the Milk
by Stephen Davies
After carrying a bowl of milk on her head across dunes and the River Niger, and even up a mountain, without spilling a drop despite many distractions, Penda gets a surprise when she arrives at the grasslands to give her father his lunch.
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Mama Panya's Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary ChamberlinMama Panya has just enough money to buy ingredients for a few pancakes, so when her son Adika invites all their friends to join them, she is sure there will not be enough to go around. With facts about Kenya and Kiswahili.
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Anna Hibiscus
by Atinuke
Anna Hibiscus lives in amazing Africa with her mother, her father, her baby twin brothers, and lots and lots of her family. Join her as she splashes in the sea, prepares for a party, sells oranges, and hopes to see sweet, sweet snow!
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When Stars are Scattered
by Victoria Jamieson
A Somali refugee who spent his childhood at the Dadaab camp and the Newbery Honor-winning creator of Roller Girl present the graphic-novel story of a young refugee who struggles with leaving behind his nonverbal brother when he has an opportunity to help his family by going to school. Simultaneous and eBook. Illustrations.
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One Hen: How One Small Loan Made A Big Difference by Katie Smith MilwayInspired by actual events, a picture book tells the story of Kojo, a boy from Ghana, who, with a very small loan from his mother, started a tiny poultry farm and earned enough money to return to school--and make a better life for his family.
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The Red Pencil
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
After her village is attacked by militants, Amira, a young Sudanese girl, flees to a refugee camp, where she finds hope and the chance to pursue an education in the form of a single red pencil and the encouragement of a wise elder.
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The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case
by Alexander McCall Smith
Considering a future as a detective years before the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is established, 8-year-old Precious Ramotswe investigates the disappearance of a piece of cake when she believes that a young boy has been wrongly accused of stealing it as well as perpetrating a series of playground thefts, in a young reader's spin-off of the popular adult mystery series.
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Iyanu: Child of Wonder by Roye OkupeA teenage orphan with no recollection of her past, suddenly discovers that she has abilities that rival the ancient deities told in the folklore of her people.
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Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi AdeyemiComing of age in a land where her magi mother was killed by the zealous king's guards along with other former wielders of magic, Zélie embarks on a journey alongside her brother and a fugitive princess to restore her people's magical abilities.
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Steeplejack
by A. J. Hartley
Repairing roof fixtures in an alternate world resembling Victorian South Africa, Anglet Sutonga investigates the death of an apprentice while caring for her sister's baby against a backdrop of racial tensions, political secrets, and a historical icon.
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A Long Walk To Water: Based On A True Story by Linda Sue ParkWhen the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven.
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City of Saints And Thieves by Natalie C. AndersonYears after her beloved mother is murdered by her corrupt businessman employer, Tina, a girl who fled Congo during childhood, becomes an expert thief in order to support her younger sister and pursue a dangerous opportunity to exact revenge.
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