Today’s post comes to you from Sally Cameron The Gap on the Shelf It is remarkable how stories entwine us, often in the most unexpected ways. Whether it’s a librarian looking at a gap on a shelf or a mother writing the very books she wants her daughter to see, books have an incredible power to … Continue reading #IntYALitMonth: West African Mythology
Today’s post comes to you from Laura Simeon When it comes to international literature for young people, works by contemporary writers from Africa deserve more attention. While “young adult” as a publishing category isn’t as widely established in many countries as it is in the U.S. and U.K., there’s a pool of literary talent from across … Continue reading #IntYALitMonth: The Richness of African YA Fiction
Written by Annie Harris I’ve spent most of my career exploring children’s literature and finding ways to connect my students to stories. However, over the last ten years, I’ve had a shift in my overall understanding of how and why students connect. Growing as both an educator and a person, I’ve realized the importance of … Continue reading #INTYALITMONTH: West African YA – Two Coming-of-Age Stories
The shoppers are out in force and the market is abuzz with activity. Women in brightly colored dresses carry baskets on their heads laden with fruit and vegetables, hens strut around, and moped driver wait for clients at the taxi rank. This is Baby and Mama’s destination: the vibrant world of a West African market, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Baby Goes to Market
Review by Christina Fawcett Going away to school and leaving everything you know behind is hard. Going away to school on another planet is harder. Going away to school and your interplanetary shuttle being attacked by murderous Meduse is so much worse. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor follows a young Himba woman who is the first … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth Review: Binti
Review by Kelly-Anne McDonald "All these feelings were knotted inside her - how helpless she felt, how hopeless Lucille felt, how even talking about change felt like a joke, a cruel hope." Bitter is set in the imagined city of Lucille, which is rife with corruption and police brutality. Ordinary citizens have been oppressed for … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth Review: Bitter
Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi DO NOT BE AFRAID. For in Lucille, life is sweet and soft. It has been since the revolution, when the angels disentangled the monsters from society’s fabric and wove it back together, stronger. There are no monsters left. Jam has known this always, as have all the children blossoming in the … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: Pet
The Girl With the Louding Voice, by Abi Daré In the Nigerian village where fourteen-year-old Adunni lives, girls and women are treated as commodities. The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is the story of Adunni finding her “louding voice,” making herself heard in a world that wants her silence. Since her mother … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Novel
Purple Hibiscus Content Warning: domestic violence, religious trauma, mentions of abuse, depictions of abuse, pregnancy loss, state-sanctioned violence. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a coming-of-age novel that juxtaposes the tumult of adolescence with the tumult of a changing nation. Set in 1980s Nigeria and told from the perspective of teenage protagonist, Kambili, Purple … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: Purple Hibiscus
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 