Africa Access Review

New Children & Young Adult TitlesRequested for Review

Abouet, Marguerite ; Mathieu Sapin (illus.) Akissi : Feline Invasion. London: Flying Eye Books , June 2013. $14.95.

Note: "Poor Akissi! The neighborhood cats are pursuing her to steal her fish, her little monkey Boubou almost ends up in a frying pan, and she's nothing but a pest to her older brother Fofana, but Akissi is a true adventurer, full of silliness and fun, and nothing will scare her for long!“ Publisher

Cote d’Ivoire

Abouet, Marguerite and Clément Oubrerie ; Aya: Love in Yop City (Book 4). : Drawn and Quarterly, 2013. $24.95 (pap).

Note: ”In Ivory Coast during the 1970s Aya and her friends begin to think about their futures, Aya is thinking about becoming a doctor, but when a professor tries to take advantage of her she seeks revenge.” Publisher

Cote d’Ivoire

Mollel, Tolowa M; Darrel McCalla (illus.) From the Lands of Night. : Red Deer Press, 2013.

"In this story, the young girl Ra-Eli watches as her family agonizes over the illness of her baby brother Samson. When they approach a healer, the answer comes: "Hold a ceremony to honor your ancestors and ask them to help, a joyful ceremony filled with guests." Publisher

East Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo

Harrington, Janice; Brian Pinkney (illus.) Busy - busy Little Chick . : Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013.

Note: Mama Nsoso knows her chicks need a warm new house, but each day when they set out to collect sticks and mud she is distracted by good things to eat, while Little Chick stays busy gathering the building materials himself." "Based on the fable 'The Hen's House,' told by the Nkundo people of Central Africa". Publisher

Egypt

 Stevenson, Steve; The Curse of the Pharaoh. : Grosset & Dunlop, 2013. $5.99.

“Agatha Mistery, a twelve-year-old detective with a photographic memory, travels to Egypt, where rumors of a mysterious tablet unearthed in the Valley of the Kings may be just the clue that she needs to unlock the secret curse of an ancient pharaoh.” Publisher

Egypt

Lipinski, Maureen; Cleopatra Ascending (A Shadow's Edge Novel, Book 2). : Flux, January 1, 2013.

Note: “… Rhea Spencer feels like a normal teenager-even if she is the reincarnation of Cleopatra. But all that changes on Rhea's sixteenth birthday, when her visions of the Egyptian queen start unraveling a very different version of history, and Declan, a hot representative of the secret Order of Antony, shows up on the doorstep to keep her from being kidnapped. Together, Rhea and Declan travel to Egypt to stop the Octavians, a dark cabal trying to tap into Rhea's growing powers. The cabal seeks to access the magic deep below the desert sands, a potentially devastating force that only Rhea can protect." Publisher

Kirmani, Mubina Hassanali; Tony Siema (illus.) Bundle of Secrets : Savita Returns Home. : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. $8.99 (pap).

Note: ”This book is about a little girl, Savita, who travels back home to Kenya, East Africa after visiting relatives in her ancestral land of India. It provides a different perspective about culture and life in Africa through the eyes of Savita, her family and her African friend, Njeri. Based on the author's personal experiences, this story will keep young readers engaged as they follow Savita's journey in the dhow with a "bundle of secrets" from India that finally get revealed in her home in Kenya.” Publisher

Kenya

Kenya

Gazemba, Stanley ; Grandmother's Winning Smile. : Imbada Publishers and Worldreader / Amazon Digital Services, 2013. $8.99.

Note: "Gazemba takes us to the rural [Kenyan] settings where Kinuthia's hopes for completing his primary school education, and the bright future it would bring, are on the verge of crashing down after his father sells the milking cow as the only source of family income and deserts him to his aging grandmother. The elderly woman is a personality of strong spirit, amazing cunning and stubborn pride though. Determined to prevent Kinuthia from joining the work-gangs in the village, his grandmother embarks on a powerful struggle through indigenous means to keep her only grandchild in school and promise him a future.“ Publisher

Kenya

Eulate, Ana; Nivola Uya (illus.) Life is Beautiful. Madrid: Cuento De Luz SL, 2013.

Note: "Violet is a little Kenyan girl who is visited by a winged giraffe during one particularly hunger-filled night. Wanting to cheer up a hungry and dejected Violet, the giraffe takes the little girl on a flight around her country of Kenya, as well as around the entire African continent. During their journey, Violet is able to see the beauty of her land from a new perspective, but still worries for herself and for her people. She is soon reassured by the giraffe, however, who tells her that help will come if she and her people appeal to the compassion of others from around the world, as well as if they are able to spread laughter among each other.“ Publisher

Kenya

Walters, Eric; Eugenie Fernandes (illus.) My Name is Blessing. : Tundra Books , 2013. $10.79.

Note: "...Baraka and eight cousins live with their grandmother. She gives them boundless love, but there is never enough money or food, and life is hard --love doesn't feed hungry stomachs or clothe growing bodies, or school keen minds. Baraka is too young, and, with his disability, needs too much, and she is too old. A difficult choice must be made, and grandmother and grandchild set off on a journey to see if there is a place at the orphanage for Baraka. The story begins by looking at Baraka's physical disability as a misfortune, but ends by looking beyond the disability, to his great heart and spirit, and the blessings he brings." Publisher

Mali

Onyefulu, Ifeoma; Home (Look at this Series). London: Frances Lincoln, 2013. $17.99.

Note: “Shows objects around the home in Mali, West Africa.” Publisher

Onyefulu, Ifeoma; Play (Look at This ! ). London: Frances Lincoln, 2013. $17.99.

Note: Shows children playing in Mali, West Africa.

Mali

Davies, Stephen; The Goggle-Eyed Goats. : Anderson Press, 2013.

Note: "Old Al Haji Amadu lived in a town called Timbuktu in a very hot country called Mali in the middle of Africa. He had three wives, seven children and five extremely naughty goggle-eyed goats. They munched and they gobbled and they chewed whatever they could find. One day, enough was enough, they had to go! But getting rid of these troublesome goats proved to be harder than Al Haji, his three wives and his seven children ever imagined." Publisher

Mali

York, M. J.; How many spots does a leopard have? : an African folktale . : Child's World, 2013.

Note: ”Leopard offers a special prize to the one who can count all of his beautiful spots, and is disappointed to find that many animals cannot count.” Publisher

Mauritania

Cunnane, Kelly; Hoda Hadadi (illus.) Deep in the Sahara. : Random / Schwartz & Wade, 2013. $17.99.

Note: "Lalla lives in the Muslim country of Mauritania, and more than anything, she wants to wear a malafa, the colorful cloth Mauritanian women, like her mama and big sister, wear to cover their heads and clothes in public. But it is not until Lalla realizes that a malafa is not just worn to show a woman's beauty and mystery or to honor tradition--a malafa for faith--that Lalla's mother agrees to slip a long cloth as blue as the ink in the Koran over Lalla's head, under her arm, and round and round her body. Then together, they pray. An author's note and glossary are included in the back of the book." Publisher

Somalia

Padian, Maria; Out of Nowhere. : Knopf, February 2013. $16.99.

Note: ”Performing community service for pulling a stupid prank against a rival high school, soccer star Tom tutors a Somali refugee with soccer dreams of his own.” Publisher

South Africa

Tutu, Desmond; A. G. Ford (illus.) Desmond and the Very Mean Word - A Story of Forgiveness . Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2013. $15.99.

Note: "When Desmond takes his new bicycle out for a ride through his neighborhood, his pride and joy turn to hurt and anger when a group of boys shout a very mean word at him. He first responds by shouting an insult, but soon discovers that fighting back with mean words doesn't make him feel any better. With the help of kindly Father Trevor, Desmond comes to understand his conflicted feelings and see that all people deserve compassion, whether or not they say they are sorry."

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South Africa

Nelson, Kadir; Nelson Mandela. New York, NY: Katherine Tegen Books, 2013. $17.99.

Note: “Text and illustrations presents a biography of the former South African president best known for his political activism and fight to end apartheid.” Publisher

Edinger, Monica; Africa Is My Home -- A Child of the Amistad . : Candlewick Press, 2013.

Note: "When a drought hits her homeland in Sierra Leone, nine-year-old Magulu is sold as a pawn by her father in exchange for rice. But before she can work off her debt, an unthinkable chain of events unfolds: a capture by slave traders; weeks in a dark and airless hold; a landing in Cuba, where she and three other children are sold and taken aboard the Amistad; a mutiny aboard ship; a trial in New Haven that eventually goes all the way to the Supreme Court and is argued in the Africans' favor by John Quincy Adams." Publisher

Sierra Leone

Tanzania

Quirk, Katie; A Girl Called Problem. : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2013. $8.00 (pap).

Note: "In 1967 Tanzania, when President Nyerere urges his people to work together as one extended family, the people of Litongo move to a new village which, to some, seems cursed, but where thirteen-year-old Shida, a healer, and her female cousins are allowed to attend school. Includes glossary and author's note." Publisher

TanzaniaSeries about a young boy in Tanzania

Burgess, Lisa Maria ; Abdul M Gugu (illus.). Taos, New Mexico: Barranca Press , 2013. $9.99

Juma on Safari Note: "Juma and his family drive across Tanzania to visit his grandmother. Juma and Little Sungura Note: "Juma doesn't want to be an only child and finally gets his wished for baby sister.Juma Cooks Chapati. Note: "Juma and his sister, Sareeya, eat chapati and then sneak into the garden to make these breads by themselves, succeeding despite a marauding crow.Juma's Dhow Race.  Note: "Juma hides in his uncle's dhow (after arguing with his cousin) and inadvertently joins the annual Dhow sailing race around the islands of Zanzibar, while his sister chases after the Changuu Island tortoises.  

Tanzania

Sullivan, Tara; Golden Boy. : Putnam, 2012. 

Note: A Tanzanian albino boy finds himself the ultimate outsider, hunted because of the color of his skin"--Publisher. 

Uganda

Fullerton, Alma; Karen Patkau (illus.) A Good Trade. Toronto: Pajama Press (Orca dist.), 2013. $19.95.

Note: " In a small Ugandan village, Kato wakes early to start the long barefoot trek beyond his village and along fields dotted with cattle and guarded by soldiers. As it is every day, his destination is the village well, where he will pump a day's supply of water into two jerry cans before trudging home again. But this is no ordinary day. The aid worker's truck arrives at the village square, and in the back is a gift so special, the little boy rushes home to look for something to repay the aid worker." Publisher's Note

Uganda

McKay, Sharon E; Daniel Lafrance (illus.) War Brothers : the Graphic Novel. : Annick Press, 2013.

Note: “…A graphic novel adaptation of the author's novel about a group of boys in Uganda who are kidnapped and forced to join the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, and their desperate escape, only to return home to discover that their friends and family are afraid of them.“ Publisher

Zambia

Williams - Garcia, Rita; P.S. Be Eleven. : Amistad, 2013. $16.99.

Note: ”P.S. Be Eleven is the sequel to Williams-Garcia's New York Times bestseller One Crazy Summer, a Newbery Honor Book and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. Includes a exchange teacher from Zambia.” Publisher

Lewis, J. Patrick; Monique Felix (illus.) The good ship crocodile . : Creative Editions, 2013.

Note: "When the skies of Africa darken with rain and the river swells, a good-natured crocodile named Snout lends his broad back to many stranded animal neighbors. After he ferries soggy fireflies, dripping hedgehogs, and other creatures over dangerous waters, his good deeds are repaid in full when a shift to hot, dry weather leaves him vulnerable instead." Publisher

Atinuke; Splash. : Walker Books, June 2013.

Note: "Anna Hibiscus is at the beach and all she wants to do is SPLASH! In the second Anna Hibiscus picture book from Atinuke and Lauren Tobia, Anna has left her mango tree...and she's at the beach! Phew, it is hot. But what better way to cool off than by playing in the jumpy, splashy waves? "Come and splash in the waves with me!" shouts Anna Hibiscus. But everyone, including Grandmother and Grandfather, Chocolate, Benz, Wonderful, Joy, Clarity and Common Sense, is much too busy to wave-jump! So, it's just Anna Hibiscus and the white waves. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" Anna shouts happily and, soon, her happy cheers bring everyone to the water." Publisher

Crowder, Melanie; Parched. : Houghton / Harcourt, 2013. $15.99.

Note: Told from three perspectives, Sarel, who just witnessed the brutal murder of her parents, Nandi, the leader of a pack of dogs who looks out for her pups and Sarel, and Musa, an escaped prisoner with the water song inside him, struggle to survive in a land without water.

Lloyd, Jennifer; Joseph Lee (illus.) Murilla Gorilla : Jungle Detective. : Simply Read Books, 2013. $9.95.

Notes: “Murilla Gorilla is a lovable jungle detective who solves mysteries for her friends. In this case, Ms. Chimpanzee's muffins are stolen and Murilla must crack the case.” Publisher

Hofmeyr, Dianne; Piet Grobler (illus.) The Magic Bojabi Tree. London: Frances Lincoln, 2013. $17.99.

Note: Python has wrapped himself around the melon/mango/pomegranate tree with its delicious fruit, and he won't share the fruit unless the animals can tell him the correct name of the tree. Elephant, Monkey and Zebra each in turn visit Lion, who alone knows the name of the tree. But every time, the animals forget the name on the journey back to the tree. Then Tortoise, the slowest, smallest animal goes to Lion - and sings a special song to remind him of the name. It is the Bojabi Tree! Python unwraps himself from the trunk, and all the animals share a feast. Publisher