Africa II - books

He are a few books that we have been reading recently, in keeping with the Africa theme.

Africa is not a country Each page is dedicated to a different country in Africa and describes a typical day for the children who live there. It shows a the great range of diversity and touches on areas such as religion, diet, school and the kind of home people live in. As you work through the book it is as if you are working through the day as it starts with early morning chores and rituals for the kids at the beginning of the book and ends up with the evening meals and bedtime habits. It is a great book to use as a starting point for a country you want to study. When Ebi-kun got the village scene out, he looked through the book to find a picture like it and we decided it could be a village in Sudan.

Mama Panya's Pancakes, this is a cute story about a boy and him mother (who doesn't have much money) and their trip to the market, on the way the  boy keeps inviting everyone they bump into back to their place in the evening to have pancakes but poor mother is panicking because she hasn't enough money to buy food to feed them all. Turns out that everyone brings something along and they end up having a feast and a great party.

We all went on Safari, this is a counting book set in Tanzania, Ebi-kun enjoys this book because he gets to count in Swahili as well and English (he usually throws Japanese in too for good measure), we have read this book a thousand times, I am pretty sure I could read it to you right now, no need for the actually book, it's all here, in my head, and I think it will good when we get round to doing animals of Africa.

And last but certainly not least, Ebi-kuns new favourite book Goal, this a perfect tie-in with the world cup. Set in South Africa it is about a boy in the townships who has won a federation football for his good reading at school. The trouble is, there are bullies about who would love to get their hands on it. Him and his friends play on the street, they encounter the bullies....  It is a lovely story, inspiring and uplifting and well written, the parts where the boys are actually playing are written like a football commentator is writing it. Of course, Ebi-kun loves it and it also opened the opportunity to talk about bullies and life in a township.

Do you have any favourite books about Africa? If so, please share.

We are off for yochien observation day today, hubby took the day off today I suspect that is was as much to get away with getting up at 3am to watch the Japan game as it is to watch his son at yochien, he is currently crashed out on the sofa, snoring.... not for long.....