Booklists

From the June 1, 2008 Pigeon Post essay of the same name.

Below are a collection of stories that we think your children will find fascinating and engaging and which might build an interest in the whole picture of Africa. We have gone light on the misery literature (slave trading, inequities of colonialism, etc.) not because we intend to belittle that, but because that story is already so prevalent that we think the interesting side of the continent needs to be accentuated in balance. We have also gone lightly on the folk-tales, the one area where there is a reasonable population of titles, because that genre probably warrants its own Pigeon Post. Are there others you would suggest?

This book list is divided into three sections:
(1) Picture Books
(2) Books for Independent Readers
(3) Books for Young Adults

The list begins below with Picture Books, but you can use one of the following links to skip directly to either of the other two sections.
Go to books for Independent Readers
Go to books for Young Adults


Picture Books

	The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant by Jean de Brunhoff Highly Recommended
	Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain; A Nandi Tale by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Beatriz Vidal Recommended
	Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Diane Dillon and Leo Dillon Recommended
	Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger and illustrated by Michael Hays Recommended
	Sundiata by David Wisniewski Recommended
	Sosu's Call by Meshack Asare Suggested
	Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa by Don Brown Suggested
	Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum by Ashley Bryan Suggested
	Mansa Musa by Khephra Burns and illustrated by Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon Suggested
	Jamela's Dress by Niki Daly Suggested
	Jambo Means Hello by Muriel L. Feelings Suggested
	A Story, a Story: An African Tale by Gail E. Haley Suggested
	Africa Is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight and Mark Melnicove and illustrated by Anne Sibley O'Brien Suggested
	Anansi, the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott Suggested
	Zomo the Rabbit by Gerald McDermott Suggested
	Traveling Man by James Rumford Suggested

Independent Readers

	Going Solo by Roald Dahl Highly Recommended
	King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard Highly Recommended
	Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds by Joy Adamson Recommended
	Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe Recommended
	Life and Times of Michael K. by J. M. Coetzee and illustrated by Michael Coetzee Suggested
	A Bone from a Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson Suggested
	The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley Suggested
	The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay by Pat McKissack and illustrated by Fredrick McKissack Suggested
	The Ancient Kushites by Liz Sonneborn Suggested

Young Adult

	The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski Highly Recommended
	The Hot Zone by Richard Preston Highly Recommended
	The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith Highly Recommended
	Bill Bryson's African Diary by Bill Bryson Recommended
	The Washing of the Spears by Donald R. Morris Recommended
	North of South by Shiva Naipaul Recommended
	The Forest People by Colin M. Turnbull Recommended
	Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Suggested
	Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen Suggested
	The African Queen by C. S. Forester Suggested
	Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton Suggested
	The Sunbird by Wilbur A. Smith Suggested