Children's Africana Book Award

On a humid March night in 1957, Kwame Nkrumah made history. While thousands of people cheered, including dignitaries from round the world, he announced his country's independence. After many years of British rule, Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, became...

A Junior Library Guild Selection! On June 16, 1976, Hector Pieterson, an ordinary boy, lost his life after getting caught up in what was supposed to be a peaceful protest. Black South African students were marching against a new law requiring that they...

"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...

African Proverbs for All Ages is a beautifully-illustrated, engaging picture book about the power of proverbs, how they evolve over time, and the wisdom of various cultures in Africa.It has been said that a proverb is a short sentence based on long...

As she teaches her granddaughter to sew a traditional sweetgrass basket, a grandmother weaves a story, going back generations to her grandfather's village in faraway Africa. There, as a boy, he learned to make baskets so tightly woven they could hold the...

"A remarkable story of resilience, faith, and hope." -- School Library Journal (starred review) Inspired by a true account, here is the compelling story of a child who arrives in America on the slave ship Amistad--and eventually makes her way home to...

Inspired by true events, One Hen tells the story of Kojo, a boy from Ghana who turns a small loan into a thriving farm and a livelihood for many. After his father died, Kojo had to quit school to help his mother collect firewood to sell at the market...

Now a Netflix film starring and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, this is a gripping memoir of survival and perseverance about the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village. When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny...

This beautifully illustrated story connects past and present as a girl bakes a chocolate cake with her father and learns about her grandfather harvesting cacao beans in West Africa. Chocolate is the perfect treat, everywhere! As a little girl and her...

Juma is excited to go fishing with his grandfather, Babu Ali. But when they get to the beach, they find the sand covered in plastic pollution--flip-flops, plastic straws, toothbrushes, bottles, and shopping bags. One of the flip-flops floating in on a...

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...

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...

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...

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...