Muna KalatiMuna Kalati
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn WhatsApp
    Soumettre Votre Article
    Muna KalatiMuna Kalati
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn WhatsApp
    Donner Maintenant
    • Programs
      • Adwen Keseɛ Initiative
        • Adwen Keseɛ initiative-FAQ
      • MK Ambassador Program
      • MK Volunteer Program
        • (FAQ) – Volunteer with Muna Kalati
        • Policy of Ethical Behavior
      • Workshops
        • Reading For Pleasure
        • Reading for Healing
        • One Sunday, One Family
        • Cameroon Children’s book fare
    • Services
      • Publishing
      • Research
      • Illustrations
      • Marketing
      • Writers
      • Distributor
    • Media
      • Muna Kalati TV
      • Podcasts
      • News
      • Articles/blogs
      • Report
    • Network
      • Become a member
        • Password Help
        • MK Community
        • Join The Community
      • Our partners
      • Resources
        • Database
          • Databases of literature
          • Database of African publishers
          • Ghana Children’s Books Database
          • Kenya Children Book Database
          • Gambia Children’s Book Database
          • Nigeria Children’s Book Database
          • Liberia Children’s Book Database
          • List of bookshops in Cameroon
        • Profiles
      • Give
        • Fundraising
      • Advocacy Campaigns
      • Conferences & Events
    • About
      • Mission & Vision
      • Impact
      • Leadership
      • Muna Kalati Talks
      • Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Our Team
      • Awards
    Monday, September 25
    Muna KalatiMuna Kalati

    12 Children Books from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger

    0
    By MunaKalati on 11 May 2020 Muna Kalati

    Travel the world with your children through these beautiful children’s books about West Africa! Below you will find picture books about Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. They range from biographies and folk tales to modern stories about life in West Africa today.

    Children’s Books About Mali

    Sundiata: Lion King of Mali is the story of the legendary founder of the Mali empire. (The present day country of Mali takes its name from this medieval kingdom in West Africa and represents part of the territory that this powerful kingdom occupied at its height). Based on oral tradition, this telling focuses on the hardships Sundiata had to overcome. to become king. The cut paper illustrations are beautiful, and the narration mimics the cadences of the traditional griot storytellers. I highly recommend this book to combat the typical silence in most classrooms about the history of African kingdoms.

    My kids love graphic novels, so I was thrilled to come across a comic version of the history of Sundiata. Sundiata: A Legend of Africa makes a thrilling read for any child who loves adventure. It has intrigue, battles, and magic – a surefire way to convince young readers that history is anything but boring!

    If your child has any chance of reading about medieval West Africa in one of their history books, it will likely be about Mansa Musa, the celebrated king who distributed so much gold on his pilgrimage to Mecca that he caused inflation in Egypt and the surrounding areas for years after. After his trip, he became the only African king featured on European maps of the continent. Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali, gorgeously illustrated by the award-winning team Leo & Diane Dillon, tells of the powerful monarch whose fame carries down through history.

    Never Forgotten, a Junior Library Guild selection, is a gorgeous picture book about a difficult subject – slavery. It reminds me a bit of Roots in that we come to know Musafa and his native Mali intimately before he is stolen away, so that we can more deeply appreciate the horror of what is lost and what might have been. Author Kissack, who dedicated herself to filling the gap in African American children’s literature, wrote that through this book she sought to “create a story that addresses that answers the question that all of us who are descendants of the Taken ask: ‘Were we missed?’ I answer with a resounding ‘Yes! We were never forgotten.” Illustrated by the same award-winning team that illustrated Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali above.

    The Hatseller And The Monkeys is the first book on this list from Coretta Scott King Honor winner Baba Wagué Diakité, who was born and raised in a small village in Mali. This tale is one he heard as a boy from his uncle, a version of a story popular in many parts of the world about a seller who has his wares stolen by monkeys while napping. As always, Wagué takes the opportunity to teach his young readers about the culture and art of Mali, as in the wide-brimmed dibiri hats sold by the main character.

    The Magic Gourd is also by Baba Wagué Diakité. (For a treat, flip to the back cover to see a picture of him with his daughters, one of whom would grow up to collaborate with her father on a book featured below!) The Magic Gourd is a fable about a kind rabbit who receives a magic gourd as a thank you after helping a chameleon. The gourd, which fills magically with whatever the owner desires, keeps Rabbit and his loved ones well fed even during a famine. Yet when the magic gourd is stolen by a greedy king, it takes another magical gift from the chameleon and the rabbit’s quick thinking to retrieve the gift and teach the king a lesson in friendship and generosity.

    I Lost My Tooth in Africa is one of the most famous children’s books set in Africa. Written by Baba Wagué Diakité’s daughter Penda Diakité and illustrated by him, it is based on the true story of when Penda’s younger sister Amina lost her tooth while they were visiting their father’s homeland of Mali. She is so excited when she finds out that when you lose a tooth in Africa, the African tooth fairy will give you a chicken! My kids loved this story, perhaps especially because they can relate to experience of losing teeth – and of visiting another country where their father was born.

    Gabrielle Emanuel, who now works for NPR, spent a year in Mali, working in the health sector. She often read to a young friend there and became appalled at the lack of books that reflected the local landscape and culture. Her book The Everlasting Embrace is a response to this need. It is a beautiful tribute to mothers and the close bond they create with their babies through the traditional practice of babywearing. As a mother goes through her day – grinding millet, going to the market – we see the world as experienced from the loving “cocoon” in which the child spends her days.

    My Baby is another beautiful book about a mother’s love for her child. It showcases the art of bogolan, a traditional technique of painting cloth with specially prepared mud. Nakunte learns the art from her mother and uses it to make cloth for weddings and funerals, until she is finally ready to make a beautiful cloth for her own baby, decorated with symbols teaching the little one about the creatures of her home.

    Children’s Books About Burkina Faso

    The Water Princess is a beautifully done book based on the childhood memories of supermodel Georgie Badiel. A young girl dreams of having clean water close by, but instead she and her mother (along with many other women and girls) must spend much of their day walking miles to fill their jars with dusty water. My children could not believe that this was still a problem today and had trouble imagining what it would be like to have to work so hard just for a drink of water – and that the drink wouldn’t even be clean. There is more information about lack of access to clean water at the back of the book. You can find out even more from the Georgie Badiel Foundation, which has made providing clean, accessible water a cornerstone of its work in Burkina Faso.

    All Aboard for the Bobo Road is a fun children’s book about the Fulani people of Burkina Faso, written by Stephen Davies, who spent ten years living among them as a missionary. It focuses on a common experience there – riding in a minibus! It is a beautiful, colorful ride past a lake full of hippos, by a waterfall and old rock domes, through the forest and into the big city. See for yourself why Davies calls this region one of his favorite places in the world.

    Children’s Book About Niger

    Though I found many books about other countries in West Africa (especially Mali), unfortunately I was only able to find one about Niger. Don’t Spill the Milk! comes from author Stephen Davies (see above), a missionary who spent ten years living in Burkina Faso and regularly visiting Mali and Niger. This is the sweet story of a Fulani girl carefully delivering milk to her father, who is tending sheep high in the grasslands. As she walks to see her father, we see many features of the region, including the endangered West African giraffe. A story of love and understanding between a father and daughter.

    Share your favorite book in the comments!

    Original article published here

    Burkina Faso Mali Niger Notes de lecture Review
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp
    MunaKalati

    Related Posts

    10 September 2023

    Ami Series, a book to make kids stand for social justice and respect the environment 

    23 December 2022

    Saving Lives through Listening: A Review of “ The Voices of Children”

    8 November 2022

    Remote internship opportunity for the position of Editorial and Community manager.

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Muna Kalati TV

    Podcast

    Join MK Linkedin

    Click to join

    Newsletter

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from Munakalati about art, design and business.

    Resource Center

    Muna Kalati renforce ses compétences en activisme et sécurité digitale avec HiveMind

    17 February 2023By K. Judicael KOUASSI

    WACSI, au travers du projet HiveMind, a organisé un atelier pour renforcer les capacités d’acteurs…

    6 February 2023

    Adinkra au centre des attentions…

    2 February 2023

    SALIJEY 2022, le RDV incontournable des passionnés du livre et de la BD Africaine, désormais une réalité.

    1 February 2023

    Progressive Funding, a financing strategy that builds trust and shift the power

    Recent Posts
    • Zoom sur la première cohorte du programme des ambassadeurs de Muna Kalati 21 September 2023
    • “ Prévoyez un petit budget pour acheter un livre par mois à votre enfant” Ulrich Talla wamba, directeur des Editions Akoma Mba 21 September 2023
    • How can African Children’s Book Authors Foster an effective collaboration with Schools? 14 September 2023
    • JOB DESCRIPTION FOR PROGRAM MANAGER, MUNA KALATI (MK) 11 September 2023
    • Ami Series, a book to make kids stand for social justice and respect the environment  10 September 2023
    Lettre d’information
    About

    Muna Kalati, in Douala, refers to “children’s book”, and was born from the desire to make books and reading a playful activity that fits naturally into daily practices in Cameroon and Africa.

    FAQs

    Adwen keseɛ Initiative

    MK Voluunter Program

    Contact Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • LinkedIn
    • WhatsApp
    Give

    Please donate to us to support our operations and children across Africa. GIVE. Please reach us on all our social media platforms.E-mail:info@munakalati.org
    WhatsApp:
    +233503990443

    Copyright © 2023 Munakalati.
    • Home
    • News
    • FAQs

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.