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
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Baby Goes to Market
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
#IntlYALitMonth Review: Bitter
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
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Mayowa and the Masquerades
Mayowa wants to stay in the city and play computer games rather than visit his grandmother in another town. But he doesn’t stay in a bad mood for long! Especially when his new friend Denuyi takes him on a tour of the neighborhood. In Mayowa and the Masquerades, the two boys share in simple wonders: … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Mayowa and the Masquerades
#INTLYALITMONTH: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Review by Sarah Ducharme The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna Deka is terrified. She is turning 16 and the Ritual of Purity is looming. She's worried that her community will discover what she has suspected about herself for years: she's different. She might even be "Impure," the label given to any girl whose blood runs … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
#INTLYALITMONTH: Karmzah – the Unleashing by Farida Bedwei
Review by: Nadine Bailey Karmzah: The Unleashing by Farida Bedwei Karmzah is the super-herione whose powers are unleashed when archaeologist Morowa Adjei accidentally drops an ancient Malian artefact. Morowa has cerebral palsy and the medicine man freed from the jar gives her super-powers through her crutches, including the ability to speak and understand any language … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: Karmzah – the Unleashing by Farida Bedwei
#INTLYALITMONTH: Malika, Warrior Queen by Roye Okupe
Review by: James Toney Malika Warrior Queen: Volume 1 by Roye Okupe ISBN: 9781506723082 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Illustrators: Chima Kalu and Raphael Kazeem Malika: Warrior Queen Volume 1 sets up an interesting story. At first, it seemed like the typical story about monarchies: fights over the throne, betrayal, birthrights, etc. but by the end, … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: Malika, Warrior Queen by Roye Okupe
#DutchKidLit – Translate This! We Moeten Allemaal Feminist Zijn by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, adapted and illustrated by Mylo Freeman
Mylo Freeman’s 2021 picture book adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay We Should All Be Feminists is currently only available in its Dutch edition in translation by Hi-en Montijn, We Moeten Allemaal Feminist Zijn. This is a picture book introduction to feminism for children ages 8 and up, and full of Freeman’s characteristically bright, bold figures … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Translate This! We Moeten Allemaal Feminist Zijn by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, adapted and illustrated by Mylo Freeman
Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika
Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun is the longest title in the series on older Women in fiction around the world. The novel brings you a woman of 75, living in San Francisco and of Nigerian origin. The author Sarah Ladipo Manyika was born in 1968 and raised in Nigeria. She taught English … Continue reading Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika
Excerpt: The Sound of Things to Come by Emmanuel Iduma
HELPER I She was not one of us. She said her life was an early evening, or an early dawn, and she was going to leave before it was night or before it was morning. She gave you the feeling that you were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, and that if you stood … Continue reading Excerpt: The Sound of Things to Come by Emmanuel Iduma
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 