Africa Books

This is a wonderful children's story. Amadi wants to grow up and become a business man. It's something he is already familiar with. He knows the market place. He doesn't need to learn to read. Until the day when a photo catches his eye and peaks his curiousity. What is it? If he could read, maybe the book would tell him. The story will show children how the joy of reading can take them to new worlds and places that they've never been to before. The illustrations are fun and delightful. The warm colors of the African village are inviting. Children will love this book. Buy it!

For those of us who read in the same way that we breathe, sometimes it's easy to take that activity for granted. We forget the inherent magic that comes from the printed word floating from the page into an imagination and the excitement that comes when that flow first occurs.

When a book reminds us of how special it was to learn to read, and how much we once yearned to know how to do that, that book is special. Amadi's Snowman by Katia Novet Saint-Lot and illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo is one of those books that gives us back the hunger and eagerness that we once had for learning to read. A short story in the form of a picture book--and a beautiful one at that!--this book gave me chills as I read it, and when I finished the last jubilant page, I immediately went back to the beginning and read it again.

This is one of those remarkable books that is meant for all ages, where the pictures and the text come together seamlessly in a glowing, perfectly blended, and wonderful world of its own. I love this book and can't wait to share it with (and give it to) other people who will love it just as much as I do. Thank you, Katia, Dimitrea, and Amadi!

The subject matter of literacy - of wanting to read - is heavy. Saint-Lot writes beautifully, her Amadi is genuine, and the little readers ends up cheering Amadi on to feel the same zing as they do, that "yes, books are amazing" feeling. He is so much like every child; sometimes silly, sometimes thoughtful. Children connect to Amadi, immediately. Little readers love to follow him through his day. He falls in love with a book, as children have since forever. They feel powerful that reading is something they are learning (or have learned) to do, they want to see how Amadi feels about learning to read. I bought this for all the children in my life, and gift them out as birthdays and holidays come around. They uniformly give "thumbs up" to Amadi's Snowman.

Katia Novet Saint-Lot's beautiful picture book tells the story of a proud, young Igbo man, Amadi, who plans to grow up and be a businessman. His mother wants him to learn to read, but Amadi sees no need for reading. He's already good with numbers - what would he need reading for? Until he catches sight of something in a book that needs to be explained. Something that forces his imagination to stretch to new limits.

Katia's effortless prose, along with the colorful illustrations of Dimitrea Tokunbo, create beautiful imagery of hot Nigeria where Amadi lives and at the same time convincingly protrays the engima of snow. Amadi's Snowman is a delightful trip to another part of the world yet rings with familiarity as we fondly remember the magic and power of learning to read.

LOVE this story, funny too. Isn't the title intriguing? Eric Kimmel's Anansi tales are the best! We've enjoyed this one so much. Great illustrations. Eric, keep writing.

Anansi the spider bores his way into one of Elephant's melons and thus begins the great trickery of some of the greatest animals in the Animal Kingdom. I used this book with the second grade class and we loved the human characteristics of the animals and all the funny things Anansi says while he is in the melon. It is a great book to act out in the puppet theater and we had great fun taking on the roles of the elephant, monkey, spider and other surprised and astonished animals.

My 5 year old son LOVED the mischief Anansi got into and understood the lessons that were being taught. It is written in a way that younger kids can understand and the illustrations are great!

That Anansi is such a scoundral!!

After boring into one of Elephants melons, he eats himself too big to get out!! So, Anansi waits to get thing again...Only, he's bored! So he decides to amuse himself at Elephant's expense... and Hippo's...and Warthog's...Well, you get the idea.

This is a cute story about a trickster spider. Janet Stevens' illustrations are, as always, excellent. Anansi is not just a regular spider. Stevens gives him expressions and a personality. You wind up laughing with Anansi's pranks. Very well done!

I would definitly recommend this book. I read it to a group of young school age kids - 5-9. They could kinda tell where the story was going, but were more than willing to sit for the ride.

I just love this version of how Anansi--with the help of his cunning wife--becomes the owner of stories. The illustrations in this book are wonderful and unique in the realm of Anansi tales for children. The spiders look like spiders--though with gentle, chubby-cheeked human faces as to show their emotions and expressions. Their clothes are colorful and seem culturally appropriate for their setting. It's quite clever how the illustrator shows recognizably human gestures with spidery legs.

One of the best images is the prideful Anansi standing "nose to nose" with the Sky God as he boldly announces that he has come for the stories. Viewers can even see the spider's cocky shadow carefully included on this page.

A nice touch in this book is the little "Glossary" near the front of the story, which gives pronunciations and definitions of the names and terms used in the tale. Example:pesa (PAY-suh): The breathy sound of whispering. // The glossary is of great benefit to readers who share the story out loud.

This book would be worth sharing with classes and with young family members. Even adults can appreciate the resourceful spider couple as they plot to do the impossible. Overall, I was impressed with this tale, and I recommend it for school and home libraries.

This book was such a delight. My first grade class could not wait to hear what Anansi would do next. For the first time, Anansi uses his trickery to help someone other than himself! It was refreshing to have the author show how Anani's wife, Aso, helped him to reach his goal. I think my readers learned a lot of valuable lessons from this story.

Both of my children, ages 2 and 5, love this book. The two-year-old, normally wiggling and wandering around the room during story time, stays put for this one. They can't wait to see what tricks Anansi and Aso will be up to next!

The Anansi series are a great read. As usual the author keeps us in suspense as to who and how Anansi will trick. My first grade class loved it. They were at the edge of their seats. I can't wait to read more to them.

Reads like a cloak and dagger thriller at times. This is a riveting account of the end of apartheid and the birth of democracy in a society that should be, by all rights, engaged in civil war at this time. Instead, Ms. Waldmeir gives us the reasons, historically and diplomatically, as to why this amazing transition took place in relative peace. She tries to give a fair representation of the roles of all the major players in this incredibly complex real life drama. I found the writing to be very insightful as an academic work while at the same time it was told as the dramatic, tension filled drama that the story truly is.

Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa
This book came on time and was delivered directly to my place of residence within two days. So far this book is worth more than just an assignment for class. This book also helps me to see another side of conflict that most people may never see in their life time; unless they live within a collective culture where group needs are put before the individual self.

This is surely the most informative book to have been written on the subject of South Africa since the end of the white regime. Ms Waldmeiris a superb writer, with a perceptive and self -deprecating wit.May she write heaps more. Dermot Ros

Anatomy of a Miracle is one of those history books you never forget. It does such a good job putting you there. You feel like you are at the meeting between Mandela and DeKlerk. This is history at its best. Anyone interested in Current Events or the History of South Africa and its transformation from Apartheid and White Rule to One Man One Vote and Democracy needs to read this book. I had no idea that Mandela and the South African government had been in negotiation long before Mandela's release. I also had no idea how well Mandela used his ability to speak Afrikaaner and his knowledge of Afrikaaner History to while negotiating to end Apartheid. You see the challenges DeKlerk, Mandela, and all of South Africa had to overcome. And they did. This is a short book, but after reading this you will become an expert on the events that led to the end of Apartheid and the beginning of Democracy in South Africa. This is a great book.

Morell's astounding level of research reveals the Leakeys individually, as a family, and as dogged searchers for the truth about man's origins--and as living, breathing humans. Through letters, diaries, journals, personal interviews, and family archives, they speak to the reader with unprecedented candor about their personal travails, but more importantly, about their early struggles for funding, their fossil discoveries in remote desert locations, their constant surprise by the historical record, and their uncertainty, to this day, about modern man's exact lineage.

Some Leakey peccadilloes, never secret, are fully documented here: Louis's constant womanizing and his "adoption" of young female researchers, such as Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas; Mary's scotch-drinking, her cigar-smoking, and her intolerance of those on her Stinker List, some of them other researchers; and Richard's boyish brashness and arrogance, along with his health problems and dislike of Donald Johanson. Less appreciated, however, is the fact that before Louis's work and significant discoveries, people still believed that early man was from China or Europe, not Africa. Mary Leakey was the first person ever to excavate a Paleolithic site, and her meticulous care about documenting the tools and animals found in the same stratae as her hominid fossils, told here in detail, revolutionized the way fossils were recovered and catalogued. Richard found as many hominid fossils in two years (1971 and 1972) as Mary and Louis found in 36 years, and his level of dedication to research since finding his first hominid fossil at age 6, his mentoring of young researchers, and his creation of museums and foundations in Nairobi have perhaps received less attention than they deserve.

The Leakeys believe at least two and perhaps three or four different hominids may have lived in certain areas simultaneously, sharing space for a million or more years, and that the exact line of descent to modern man is still unknown. Tens of thousands of extinct, fossilized species of hippos, elephants, saber-toothed cats, crocodiles, antelopes, and even insects, unearthed by the Leakeys, are overwhelming evidence that if species, including hominids, do not change and adapt, they die. While some may argue about how certain hominids are labeled, no one can argue with their existence in the historical record, and nearly all of them have been unearthed by just one family. These contributions continue beyond the purview of this book into a new generation: Dr. Louise Leakey and her mother Maeve (Richard's wife) found yet another completely new hominid species in March, 2001. Mary Whipple

This is an engrossing story of archealogy's first family. The title hints at their adventures, loves, intrigues, battles, all most passionate. I could not put the book down. The landscape of archealogy will forever be, for me, after this book, a color filled map with the land of our ancestors fully pictured in my mind. No longer will archealolgists seem to be dull digging tan people,but exciting real people, made of the passion of us all. A superb read

Amidst the splendor and corruption of Africa, this family battle the weather, the government, the prejudices, the lack of funds, and even each other. Their intelligence and love for the country is evident as they search for prehistoric evidence of earliest humans. The more I read about them, the more I admired their contribution to East Africa and to the world.

This is a long, engrossing, detailed book about the Leakey family and their impact on paleoanthropology in Africa. It's a real pot-boiler of a book--hard to put down and a totally fascinating study of the family. You get a real sense of their human failings as well as their triumphs. The family comes across as stubborn, intense, egomaniacal and prickly, as well as totally dedicated to their pursuit of man's ancestry in Africa. Although the author has a higher opinion of the Leakeys than some of their rivals (Donald Johanson), she by no means glosses over the more unsavory aspects of their characters. I would highly recommend this book, regardless of your level of familiarity with paleoanthropology.

Having read a number of books in recent months on Egpyt, Canaan, and Israel, I decided that I needed to go to the source to see for myself what the many partially quoted Egyptian texts actually say. Miriam Lichtheim's "Ancient Egyptian Literature - Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms" was my starting point.

The customer reviews recommended it - and what other customers have to say about a book is usually an important factor as to whether I will buy it. In this case, I was cautious and only bought the first volume. I enjoyed it immensely.

Professor Lichtheim's aim was to provide an up-to-date translation of a representative selection of Egyptian Literature, and in preparing these she states that she has made full use of existing translations and studies. I found her introductory survey on the development of Egyptian literature and her detailed explanation and notes of each text to be most useful in helping me understand what I was reading.

This first volume includes translations of about 50 texts dating from the 5th dynasty of the Old Kingdom to the 14th Dynasty of the Middle kingdom - which covers the period c 2450BCE to c 1650BCE. The texts include tomb inscriptions, selected "Utterances" from the Pyramid texts, Didactic Instructions, Songs and Hymns, as well as three amusing and interesting prose tales - The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, ThreeTales of Wonder, and The Story of Sinuhe.

The Didactic literature is also very interesting, generally being instructions from kings to sons on how to properly rule the kingdom after his death. But they also include such texts as "The Dispute between a Man and his Ba", "The Eloquent Peasant", "The Satire of the Trades", and the much (partially) quoted and often misquoted "Admonitions of Ipuwer".

The book was worth buying for the this last item alone, since this text has often been described as providing textual evidence of events leading up to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. According to Professor Lichtheim, the only surviving text is on a 19th Dynasty Payprus comprising 17 pages of about 14 lines with lacunae in various places, and she provides the complete translation of all that is still legible. In her explanation of the text, she discusses at some length whether the text is "a direct response to a calamity" or an "historical romance". Her conclusion is that "The Admonitions of Ipuwer has not only no bearing whatever on the long past First Intermediate Period, it also does not derive from any other historical situation" She believes it to be "the last, fullest, most exaggerated, and hence least successful composition of the theme 'order versus chaos'" Even if you have already decided that Ipuwer IS describing events leading to the Exodus, it is worth buying this book to read the translation of the full text by a scholar who has provided a most cogent explanation of its provenance

I know this is going to be one of those books which I shall read time and time again. I thoroughly recommend it to other readers, and I certainly intend to obtain Volumes II and III.

This is an excellent corpus of translations from an authoritative hand, including from simple "funeral" and "biographical" inscriptions from the Old Kingdom upto nice and good renderings of all the major "tales" and "stories" from the MIddle Kingdom: The Tale of Sinuhe, The Dialogue between a Man and His Soul, the Tale of Kheops and the magicians, and many other paramount titles of the ancient Egyptian literature dated to the aforesaid periods. Each piece contains an introductory notes with the "history" of the documents and end-notes full of interesting comments as for the translation's details and plenty of bilbiography. Most recommended, both for the beginners and the trained readers.

Miriam Lichtheim's "Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 1" is a very good translation of a wide range of texts from Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt. It contains a representative sampling of Pyramid and Coffin texts, monumental inscriptions, didactic and wisdom literature,including the famous "Dispute Between a Man and His Ba", a few hymns, and prose selections, including "The Story of Sinuhe", "Three Wonder Tales", and "The Shipwrecked Sailor". For me the clincher in deciding to purchase this particular volume over its competitors was Ms. Lichtheim's decision to leave the words "ka", "ba", and selected other terms untranslated rather than giving anachronistic, supposed modern equivalents, to these complex words, as other recent translators have done. There are, additionally, excellent introductions and notes.

When I was learning to read Middle Egyptian, it was Lichtheim who kept me on track. She has a wonderful gift for translation. Her translations, while very close to literal, somehow manage to carry the atmosphere of the original without sounding as bizarre as a literal translation would.

Somehow it looks like the Loprieno had a hard time with the publisher or not much time because it looks like the book should be much larger.

Namely, although he praises interlinear translations he admits that the translations have "enough information" (pp. xii-xiii) as they are presented, but it could be much easier to follow the narrative if all the translations could be grammatically parsed or at least italicized in main points.

Indeed, Loprieno sometimes uses parsing (pp147,159), or true interlinear (pp160 ex.(75), (84)), or italicization of key points addressed in texts (pp 198 (ex.(66)) and underline (pp.116) and is very easy to follow on that spots, and it shows a true language professional.

On other places you must break the thoughts and delve into translation and grammar parsing and also there are sometimes long chunks of texts where you could get lost and need to reread. This becomes impediment at times.

Loprieno also admits that he has no room for elaboration of Negation patterns (ch. 5.7) in detail. But if you want to understand it you must get his articles on the subject on Negation (in reference) - those are excellent explanatory material left out which should be included in the introductory book.

On the other side, the grammatical tables are invaluable as they summarize whole chapters and are easy to follow.

Indexes at the end of the book are excellent cross-information, especially index of topics, morphemes and lexemes.

Minding space shortcomings the book is very well organized (considering space allotted), extremely thorough and above all very modern.

For specifics on "tech talk" in linguistics, the most useful book to have with you when reading Loprieno is David Crystal: Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (The Language Library). Without good dictionary like this it is much more difficult to follow the discourse.

Regarding contents:

Ch.1,2 and 3 are nice introductory material and is a summary of all the work done in the phonetics field published in books and periodicals of relevance to Ancient Egyptian.

Ch.4 Is a true morphological summary of Ancient Egyptian and it looks like half the Gardiner ( Egyptian Grammar (Egyptology: Griffith Institute) ) compressed. The verbal morphology ch. 4.6 is a very modern and unexplored field not touched much by classics and very interesting (it also need some time and heavy use of Crystal).

Ch 5,6, and 7 are true anatomical atlas of Ancient Egyptian language and Ch.7 is slightly theoretical as the verbal approach is only recently taking ground.

I suggest NOT to read chapters on Later Egyptian (i.e. 5.11, 6.7, and 7.9) at a first few rereads until you are completely familiar with Middle Egyptian because it is just too much information on a small space.

Such a wide scope of the book on such a small volume is sometimes nauseating even after numerous re-readings. But after some time, resisting the plateau of learning everything would fit and you can even sometimes enjoy such minimalistic writing. After completely familiarizing with contents it can be an excellent study reference and prime source on Ancient Egyptian.

THIS GREAT BOOK IS IDEAL FOR AVANCED STUDY ABOUT EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE...ITS CONTENS ARE VERY USEFUL, MORPHOLOGY, SINTAX, A GREAT GRAMMAR...WITH A LOT OF EXAMPLES. A ANCIENT LANGUAGE HISTORY: EARLY, LATER EGYPTIAN, AND COTIC. VERY...VERY...GOOD... EXCELENT....

This work is probably the best exposition on the Egyptian language available to the general public currently. The chapter on phonology is highly commendable for the presentation of believable reconstructions of original pronunciations of Egyptian words, including inflections, which one sorely misses in most other works. However, without sound grounding in linguistics, the contents are often difficult to comprehend, especially the sections on grammar. Nevertheless, the book is certainly an indispensable and authoritative reference on this subject matter for every serious student of Egyptology and/or Egyptian language.

This is the first time that the insight of modern linguistics has been applied to the long and careful investigations into the decipherment of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphic system and its different varieties (with its phonology, morphology and syntax) are explained. It is an excellent book but hard to follow if a person has little or no knowledge of linguistics. Otherwise, it is perfect for learning about the language - not for translating hieroglyphs. Lots of examples have been taken from actual Egyptian texts (ie, The Tale of Sinuhe, The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, etc.). As the back cover says, it is "essential reading for linguists and Egyptologists alike."

A writer who can transport someone from the hard concrete unnatural world of NYC to a bambo well thousand of miles away in a remote tropical forrest has to be one I love! Really loved the connection to nature this brought for me. I'd love to read another travel log of Ms. Heyings.

I read this when traveling to Madagascar to get a sense of what the place was like. I found this book to be very descriptive, informative and enjoyable. Heather is a frog researcher. I was a bit bothered by how frogs are marked and what I learned about frog research, but setting that aside the rest of the book was very good. Heather talks about the nitty gritty of travel - getting from point A to B, what there is (or isn't) in the way of facilities and food, etc. But, mostly, she focuses on her interactions with the local Malagasy people and her life on the isolated island of Nosy Mangabe. Although she was there in the late 1990's, she probably didn't begin to foresee that Nosy Mangabe would become such a tourist island. Today, it is easier to reach and well worth the trip if you get to Madagascar. I found reading this gave me a much deeper appreciation and perspective on my trip than I would otherwise have had.

This book is focuses on what it's like for a western biologist (herpetologist) to go to Madagascar to study frogs. Heather Heying has a wonderful way with words that creates vibrant images of what she saw, heard, and felt while living there. Most of the focus is on cultural issues, including her own culture shock. Wildlife is used as a means of conveying her experiences and the experiences of the Malagasy people, not as the thrust or purpose of the book. I highly recommend this if you are at all interested in the people of Madagascar. This is a very well-written, engaging account.

Heying is a terrific writer and a keen observer of the world around her. She has traveled to Madagascar to research the behavior of tiny poisonous frogs but finds herself equally challenged by the strange behavior of the island's human inhabitants. The book is a thoughtful exploration of the predicament faced by forest creatures, the Malagasy people, and ultimately, the author herself. For those not lucky enough (or brave enough) to live in a remote tropical forest, this book provides a vivid portrait of the experience.

This book is beautiful touching story of childhood longing.

Six children wait for their fathers to come home after ten months away working in the mines.

We start their day with them as they wake in anxious anticipation. We follow them through their day with descriptive prose and amazing illustrations as they dress, go to school, make music and celebrate and wait and wait and wait.

They will not go home until their fathers arrive. The wait is longer than expected but the excitement remains high throughout this book until the beautiful end.

At the Crossroads by Rachel Isadora is a made-up story. It is about kids waiting for their fathers to come home. They waited a long time. I think that this story is really cool and that other kids will like it. I liked the pictures a lot, except the one where the moon was orange.

Wow! My family is from South Africa and we were thrilled when we found this book at our local bookstore. It is sooo true to life and so uplifting. It brought back all the memories we have of our home and even the colors brought back memories. I am sorry we had to leave S. Africa and I am happy that Rachel Isadora could bring back the sights, sounds and smells. I hope that by understanding the terrible situation of apartheid the country will become a better place and all the people can live together. I hope my children will understand all this someday! Thank you for such a wonderful book.....

A wonderful book telling of the warmth and love, not only in a family, but in a whole community. Eagerly awaiting the return of their fathers the children prepare a joyous welcome. Filled with rich, beautiful colors "At the Crossroads" tells a story of the love children have for their fathers, even though they may seldom see them. I felt that this really spoke of how those still at home kept the fathers 'alive' for the children. This is a wonderful book for children to see how other children live and how happy they can be with, what we would consider, so little. I use this book every year with our unit on Families.

BEAUTIFUL. AND UGLY TOO is a strong collection of poetry that reflects the political climate of our world, the history of our culture and personal thoughts of a very gifted poet. M. K. Asante, born in Zimbabwe and raised in Philadelphia has a powerful voice and his passion is expressed throughout each of his pieces.

Although all the poems have a message, each is unique in its style and presentation. For example in "Public School" the poem is virtually unreadable, until you realize it is written in reverse therefore making its meaning crystal clear. "Grandmother" is a dedication to a woman whose strength will forever be a testament. "I am not that Random, America" deals with ethnicity in America and how being born in America does not remove the disdain of being African-American. Just from these examples, readers can infer they will be taken on a journey of edification of their minds and feel the passion of the author.

This compilation is strong and quite thought provoking. Reading the selections had me reflecting on the state of our politics and our presence in this world. The author is wise beyond his years and his wisdom is so eloquently expressed throughout BEAUTIFUL. AND UGLY TOO. With 32 poems, M. K. Asante has something for all poetry lovers to relish. The style and rhythms are part of what makes this collection stand out, giving life to all the pieces. The notes at the end of the collection allow readers to realize where the author gained his inspirations and involve readers in the thought processes of a young man who used life experiences and human conditions to write an intelligent book of poetry.

Reviewed by Cashana Seals
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

Packed with uncompromising logic, M.K. leads us, through carefully selected words, towards a deeper understanding of history and presence.

These complex poems are layered with importance and relevance. Each read provided me with new, valuable, information and the helpful `notes' section was a unique opportunity to see Asante's sources of inspiration.

I recommend this book to everyone.

I read your book about three times now and I must applaud you again.
It took me a few reads on some of your poems but each read was more captivating than the last
your poems were able to suggest rather than dictate which is an excellent style of writing
I really like how you used Langston as a road map in so many of your poems
By Langston being my favorite writer I enjoyed your book that much the better and as a fellow poet it was refreshing and moving
GREAT WORK!

In the legacy of the greats like Amiri Baraka this book stings with purity and passion. Truly African in its subtext, amazing in its delivery. A refreshing book from an often silent generation of African-Americans. The intelligence behind this book gives our nation hope that the next mental genius are on the rise and fully articulating a new reality for humanity.