While it’s important for everyone to read literature from around the world, if you are of African descent, it’s a great idea to give your child an understanding of the various cultures in the continent early in their life. This is especially important if you don’t live in the continent currently. With that being said, here are five African children’s books that we recommend.

Skin We Are In is a landmark South African book for children (and grown-ups) on the subject of skin colour. Published in 2018, it was co-authored by an artist and a scientist, both South African luminaries – the author Sindiwe Magona and the anthropologist and palaeobiologist Nina Jablonski. Here they talk about how – and why – the book came about.

Here’s a curated selection of 62 fiction and non-fiction titles to check out now.

Considered the first Queen Mother of Benin, Idia was the mother of Esigie, the Oba (king) of Benin between 1504 and 1550. A great warrior and wise queen, she is believed to have saved the entire kingdom of Benin in a time of war and turmoil. Thanks to Nigerian-Canadian author Ekiuwa Aire, children can now relive the highly revered Nigerian queen’s story from a real African perspective.

Sisulu says the best marketing for a book is other people’s opinions, and thus the foundation’s website is a review hub and search engine for children’s books in South Africa’s 11 languages. On the site are a range of picture books, fables and tales, poetry, rhymes and riddles as well as educational books (fiction and nonfiction). Puku also stages a number of events such as the Puku Story Competition and the Story Festival.

Many parents want their kids to develop a lifelong culture of reading and writing. But from the desire to the reality, there are huge...