Children's Africana Book Award

Exploring the diaspora experience, race, politics, and identity, Listen, Layla is an own voices novel for young readers, bursting with passion, humor, and truth. What's a queen to do when her summer plans go horribly wrong? A powerful, funny, and timely...

"Trees are living symbols of peace and hope." -Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace laureateWangari Maathai changed the way the world thinks about nature, ecology, freedom, and democracy, inspiring radical efforts that continue to this day.This simply told story...

From Los Angeles Times Book Prize Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Malla Nunn comes a stunning portrait of a family divided and a powerful story of how friendship saves and heals. When Amandla wakes up on her fifteenth birthday, she knows it's going...

For fans of Linda Sue Park and A Long Way Gone, two young boys must escape a life of slavery in modern-day Ivory CoastFifteen-year-old Amadou counts the things that matter. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger...

The newest novel by the author of Akata Witch and the Marvel comic book series about Shuri, Black Panther's sister! "The most imaginative, gripping, enchanting fantasy novels I have ever read!" --Laurie Halse Anderson, New York Times bestselling author...

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionThe 2024 Skipping Stones Honor AwardsA 2024 IBBY Honour List SelectionA 2023 Charlotte Zolotow Award Honor BookWinner of the 2022 South African Literary Awards Children's Literature AwardHonorable mention,...

Join Baby and his doting mama at a bustling southwest Nigerian marketplace for a bright, bouncy read-aloud offering a gentle introduction to numbers. Market is very crowded.Mama is very busy.Baby is very curious.When Baby and Mama go to the market, Baby...

Don't miss Elizabeth Wein's stunning new novel, Stateless Emilia and Teo's lives changed in a fiery, terrifying instant when a bird strike brought down the plane their stunt pilot mothers were flying. Teo's mother died immediately, but Em's survived,...

Join Baby and his doting mama at a bustling southwest Nigerian marketplace for a bright, bouncy read-aloud offering a gentle introduction to numbers. Market is very crowded.Mama is very busy.Baby is very curious.When Baby and Mama go to the market, Baby...

"Based on his own experiences as a first-generation Ghanaian American growing up in New York City, chef and author Adjepong's debut picture book beautifully captures Kofi's complicated feelings of in-betweenness, seeing himself as not quite American...

Fans of Sabaa Tahir and Tomi Adeyemi won't want to miss Raybearer, an instant New York Times bestselling fantasy from breakout YA sensation Jordan Ifueko! Named one of the best books of the year by People magazine, Buzzfeed, New York Public Library,...

Fans of Sabaa Tahir and Tomi Adeyemi won't want to miss Raybearer, an instant New York Times bestselling fantasy from breakout YA sensation Jordan Ifueko! Named one of the best books of the year by People magazine, Buzzfeed, New York Public Library,...

The inspiring biography of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui whose handmade sculptures, created from discarded bottle tops, have received international acclaim and been showcased around the world."If you touch something, you leave a charge on it and anybody...

Discover why Leopard has spots, and what happens when Mrs. Chicken meets a hungry crocodile. These and other Dan tales are engagingly retold with dramatic black-and-white linoleum prints.

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods. *"Mbalia expertly weaves a meaningful portrayal of...

Based on a true story, this heartwarming picture book shows how one gift changed the fate of a poor Ugandan family--especially the young girl who wanted to go to school. More than anything, Beatrice longs to be a schoolgirl. But in her small African...

Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement, grew up in the highlands of Kenya, where fig trees cloaked the hills, fish filled the streams, and the people tended their bountiful gardens. But over many...

In a land beset by political turmoil and bloody conflict comes the epic saga of Shaka. Ousted by one of his chief father's jealous wives and raised in exile, his destiny is sealed through allegiance to a rival chief. Responding to threats from expanding...

A 2019 Children's Africana Book Awards Honor Book for Older ReadersShortlisted for the Nommo Awards for African Speculative Fiction--Graphic NovelA time of bloody conflict and great turmoil. The slave trade expands from the east African coast. Europeans...

At the height of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle, a boy must face life decisions that test what he believes--and call for no turning back. South Africa, 1976. Joshua lives with his mother in the maid's room, in the backyard of their wealthy white...

This is the powerful and moving story of Sipho and his struggle to survive on the city streets of South Africa in the 1990s. Society is on the brink of a huge change, but will it make any difference to the tough life of Sipho and the other street kids?...

University life is better than Charlotte ever dreamed, but her exposure to new ideas in 1981 Ghana will be an exciting and dangerous adventure. For eighteen-year-old Charlotte, university life is better than she'd ever dreamed -- a sophisticated and...

Richard Turere's own story: Richard grew up in Kenya as a Maasai boy, herding his family's cattle, which represented their wealth and livelihood. Richard's challenge was to protect their cattle from the lions who prowled the night just outside the...

We are the young people, We will not be broken!For almost fifty years, apartheid forced the young people of South Africa to live apart as Blacks, Whites, Indians, and "Coloreds." This unique and dramatic collection of stories--by native South African and...

Ato hasn't visited his grandmother's house since he was seven. He's heard the rumors that she's a witch, and his mother has told him he must never sit on the old couch on her porch. Now here he is, on that exact couch, with a strange-looking drink his...

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD; A CORETTA SCOTT KING HONOR BOOK "Nothing short of magic." --Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X From the acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" list, this powerful...

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD; A CORETTA SCOTT KING HONOR BOOK "Nothing short of magic." --Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X From the acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" list, this powerful...

Join Idia of the Benin Kingdom as she molds herself from the young and curious daughter of a village warrior to becoming the Queen of the ancient African Kingdom of Benin. Discover the journey of a young heroine who saw her future in a dream and works...

Kanzi's family has moved from Egypt to America, and on her first day in a new school, what she wants more than anything is to fit in. Maybe that's why she forgets to take the kofta sandwich her mother has made for her lunch, but that backfires when Mama...

The inspiring true story of demonstrators standing up for the love of a library, from a New York Times bestselling illustrator In January 2011, in a moment that captured the hearts of people all over the world, thousands of Egypt's students, library...

"Amira, look at me," Muma insists.She collects both my hands in hers."The Janjaweed attack without warning.If ever they come-- run."Finally, Amira is twelve. Old enough to wear a toob, old enough for new responsibilities. And maybe old enough to go to...

"Permit me to lay at your feetthe following genuineNarrative . . ."Olaudah Equiano was a writer and abolitionist whose autobiography, The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, captured the attention of British readers at the height of the transatlantic...

An Instant #1 New York Times BestsellerA TIME Top 100 Fantasy Books of All TimeA New York Times Notable Children's BookA Kirkus Prize FinalistFive Starred Reviews Now available in a deluxe paperback edition with gorgeous spray-painted and stenciled...

Ato and his friends Dzifa and Leslie have been selected to visit Nnoma, the bird sanctuary that Ato's father helped build before he died. Ato is convinced that his father hid something valuable on the island, meant only for him. When the trio arrives at...

Based on a true story, this heartwarming picture book shows how one gift changed the fate of a poor Ugandan family--especially the young girl who wanted to go to school. More than anything, Beatrice longs to be a schoolgirl. But in her small African...

In the thirteenth century, Sundiata overcame physical handicaps, social disgrace, and strong opposition to rule the West African trading empire of Mali.

Sargrenti is the name by which Major General Sir Garnet Wolseley, KCMG (1833 - 1913) is still known in the West African state of Ghana. Kofi Gyan, the 15-year old boy who spits in Sargrenti's eye, is the nephew of the chief of Elmina, a town on the...

"Wavin'Flag" has become an international anthem. Its powerful words of hope have crossed generations and borders, and have made K'NAAN an international star. In his first book for children, When I Get Older, Somali-Canadian poet, rapper, singer, and...

An award-winning, "unforgettable" novel for fans of Ibi Zoboi and Erika L. Sánchez (SLJ, starred review) about two sisters when the line between family and foe is blurred. Sisters Cheta and Zam couldn't be more different. Cheta, sharp-tongued and...

Mati's family is reeling from the death of Mati's mother. Her Baba has drawn into himself, her sister Chichi is rebelling, and her young brother Tana is desperate for love and normalcy.When Chichi pulls her worst stunt yet, Baba uproots the family from...