Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T17:30:54.202Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Children's Literature about Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Nancy J. Schmidt
Nancy J. Schmidt*
Affiliation:
Wisconsin State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Although the quantity of children's literature about Africa has been increasing rapidly in recent years--probably more has been published since 1960 than in the preceding three decades--the total volume is small and mediocre. Children's literature in this discussion refers to books written especially for children up to twelve or thirteen years of age. Somewhat over half the books which have been written for this age group are geographies, animal stories, and factual compendia with titles like First Book of Liberia, Getting to Know Tanganyika, Land and People of South Africa, and so on. Young persons are likely to use such books in connection with school assignments or purely for pleasure (in the case of animal stories), but they will gain little understanding of African peoples and cultures from them.

The smaller segment of children's books about Africa is comprised of storybooks and factual presentations of African history and contemporary African life. Some of these books are sufficiently attractive to catch the attention of library users and of children whose parents are affluent enough to buy books for them. But do these books help create an understanding of the peoples and cultures of Africa? This question is especially pertinent since school curricula still devote relatively little attention to Africa, despite its increased importance on the world scene, and television, radio, movies, and other mass media to which children have access often do little or nothing to promote an understanding of Africa and its people.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , December 1965 , pp. 61 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1965

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

A Bibliography of Children's Books about the People of Africa

Aardema, Verna. Tales from the Story Hat. New York, Coward-McCann, 1960.Google Scholar
Ajose, Audrey. Yomi's Adventures. Cambridge, Eng., Cambridge University Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Ames, Sophia Ripley. Nkrumah of Ghana. Chicago, Rand McNally, 1961. (JR)Google Scholar
Arnott, Kathleen. African Myths and Legends. London, Oxford University Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Arundel, Jocelyn. Mighty Mo: The Story of an African Elephant. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1961.Google Scholar
Arundel, Jocelyn. Simba of the White Mane. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1958. (E)Google Scholar
Baker, Richard S. B. Kamiti, a Forester's Dream. London, George Roland, 1958.Google Scholar
Best, Herbert. Tal of the Four Tribes. Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, 1938.Google Scholar
Bleeker, Sonia. The Masai. New York, Morrow, 1963.Google Scholar
Booth, Esma Rideout. New Magic. New York, Friendship Press, 1959.Google Scholar
Buckley, Peter. Okolo of Nigeria. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1962.Google Scholar
Burton, W. F. P. The Magic Drum: Tales from Central Africa. London, Methuen, 1961.Google Scholar
Busoni, Rafaello. Stanley's Africa. New York, Viking Press, 1944. (JR)Google Scholar
Carpenter, Frances. African Wonder Tales. Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, 1963.Google Scholar
Chu, Daniel, and Skinner, Elliott. A Glorious Age in Africa. New York, Zenith Books (Doubleday), 1965. (JR)Google Scholar
Courlander, Harold. The King's Drum and Other African Stories. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1962.Google Scholar
Courlander, Harold and Herzog, George. The Cow-Tail Switch and Other West African Stories. New York, Holt, 1947.Google Scholar
Courlander, Harold and Leslau, Wolf. The Fire on the Mountain and Other Ethiopian Stories. New York, Holt, 1950.Google Scholar
Courlander, Harold and Prempeh, Albert Kofi. The Hat-shaking Dance and Other Tales from the Gold Coast. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1957.Google Scholar
Darbois, Dominique. Agossou, Boy of Africa. Chicago, Follett, 1962. (E)Google Scholar
Davis, Norman. Picken's Exciting Summer. London, Oxford University Press, 1951.Google Scholar
Davis, Norman. Picken's Treasure Hunt. London, Oxford University Press, 1955.Google Scholar
Davis, Russell. Strangers in Africa. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1963. (JR)Google Scholar
Davis, Russell and Ashabranner, Brent. Lion's Whiskers. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959.Google Scholar
Du Bois, William Pene. Otto in Africa. New York, Viking, 1961. (E)Google Scholar
Ekwensi, Cyprian. An African Night's Entertainment. Lagos, African Universities Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Ekwensi, Cyprian. The Passport of Mallam Ilia. London, Cambridge University Press, 1960.Google Scholar
Enright, Elizabeth. Kintu. Eau Claire, Wis., E. M. Hale, 1935. (E)Google Scholar
Fawcett, Raymond, ed. Rhodesia. Cambridge, Mass., Robert Bentley, 1954.Google Scholar
Fleming, Waldo. Pygmy's Arrow. New York, Lorthrop, 1938.Google Scholar
Franck, Frederick. My Friend in Africa. London, Lowe and Brydone, 1960. (E)Google Scholar
Gatti, Attilio. Here Is the Veld. New York, Scribner's, 1948.Google Scholar
Gatti, Attilio. Kamanda, an African Boy. New York, McBride, 1953.Google Scholar
Gatti, Attilio. Saranga, the Pygmy. New York, Scribner's, 1939.Google Scholar
Gatti, Attilio. The Wrath of Moto. New York, Scribner's, 1941.Google Scholar
Gatti, Ellen, and Gatti, Attilio. The New Africa. New York, Scribner, 1960. (JR)Google Scholar
Griffin, Ella. Continent in a Hurry. New York, Coward-McCann, 1962. (JR)Google Scholar
Hall, George. Come Along to Tanganyika. Minneapolis, Denison, 1963.Google Scholar
Halmi, Robert. Visit to a Chief's Son. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963. (E)Google Scholar
Hoff, Rhoda. Africa: Adventures in Eyewitness History. New York, Henry Z. Walck, 1963. (JR)Google Scholar
Holding, James. The Lazy Little Zulu. New York, Morrow, 1962. (E)Google Scholar
Joy, Charles R. Light in the Dark Forest. London, Chatto and Windus, 1961.Google Scholar
Joy, Charles R.. Young People of East and South Africa. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1962.Google Scholar
Joy, Charles R.. Young People of West Africa. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1961.Google Scholar
Kalibala, Ernest B. Wakaima and the Clay Man and Other African Folktales. London, Longmans, Green, 1946.Google Scholar
Kittler, Glenn. Equatorial Africa. Rev. ed. London, Nelson, 1964. (JR)Google Scholar
Larsen, Natalie. Boy of the Masai. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1964. (E)Google Scholar
Lens, Sidney. Africa--Awakening Giant. New York, Putman, 1962.Google Scholar
Lindgren, Astrid. Sia Lives on Kilimanjaro. New York, Macmillan, 1959. (E)Google Scholar
Lobagola, . The Folktales of a Savage. London, Knopf, 1930. (E)Google Scholar
Mirsky, Reba Paeff. Nomusa and the New Magic. Chicago, Follett, 1962.Google Scholar
Mirsky, Reba Paeff. Thirty-one Brothers and Sisters. Chicago, Wilcox and Follett, 1952.Google Scholar
Nevins, Albert J. Away to East Africa. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1959.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Brian. Ivory, Apes and Simibel. New York, Dutton, 1961. (JR)Google Scholar
Perkins, Carol M., and Perkins, Marlin. “I Saw You from Afar.” New York, Atheneum, 1965.Google Scholar
Savage, Katharine. The Story of Africa South of the Sahara. New York, Henry Z. Walck, 1961. (JR)Google Scholar
Schloat, G. Warren, Duee, a Boy of Liberia. New York, Knopf, 1962.Google Scholar
Schloat, G. Warren. Kwaku, a Boy of Ghana. New York, Knopf, 1962.Google Scholar
Shacklett, Juanita Purvis. Boloji and Old Hippo. New York, Friendship Press, 1959. (E)Google Scholar
Simon, Charlie May. Secret on the Congo. New York, Ginn, 1955.Google Scholar
Singer, Caroline. Boomba Lives in Africa. New York, Holiday House, 1935.Google Scholar
Sterling, Thomas. Exploration of Africa. New York, American Heritage, 1963. (JR)Google Scholar
Stinetorf, Louise A. Children of South Africa. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1945.Google Scholar
Stinetorf, Louise A.. Elephant Outlaw. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1956. (JR)Google Scholar
Sutherland, Efua. Playtime in Africa. New York, Atheneum, 1962.Google Scholar
Turnbull, Colin M. The Peoples of Africa. New York, World, 1962.Google Scholar
Westphal, Clarence. Come Along to the Congo. Minneapolis, Denison, 1963.Google Scholar