16 Amazing Books to Celebrate Africa Day!

Happy Africa Day! Here is a list of books to help you celebrate this amazing day. This list to exposes children to the culture and life of African people in Africa and across the global.

A is for Agabada is an amazing book! Authors Udhedhe Olakpe and Ufuoma Olakpe take children on a Nigerian alphabetical journey. With each stop on the alphabet, children will learn both a letter and key vocabulary word from Nigerian life. Reading this book is a great introduction that is sure to spark conversations about important values, important customs, and everyday life in Nigeria. One of my favorite pages is E is for Elder because the authors describe the Nigerian reverence for elders. Another one of my favorite pages is K is Keke, which is a form of transportation used in Nigeria.

The illustrations by Gaby Zermeño will capture the attention and imagination of your young dreamer. These visually exciting images serve as powerful tools to teach children about the richness and beauty of Nigerian culture.

For educators and parents, this book introduces children to Nigerian life and culture. For children who have Nigerian heritage, this book serves as a tool to spark conversations with a family member who lived in or who has visited Nigeria. Lastly, the words in this book offer children a chance to practice decoding multisyllabic words.

It is important to note, that there are many books in circulation about Africa and African people. What makes this book special is that it is skillfully and artistically written by two sisters seeking to uplift the best of Nigerian culture. Children who read this book will develop a robust perspective of Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. Reading this book is not only a treat, but is an educational adventure that enriches the mind and heart! This is a must add book to your home or school library!

Baby goes to Market is a great book. A baby and mother go to the market place and encounter entrepreneurs who sell different goods. Each entrepreneur gives baby a portion of food. At the end of the story, the mother finds all of these food items that she hadn’t purchased in her basket. When she offers to return the items to the entrepreneurs, they all tell her it was a gift for the baby. This heartwarming story exposes young dreamers to a African marketplace, authentic Nigerian food, and the value community places on children.

For math educators, this is a great book to use in class because it allows your young dreamers to count while reading. In addition, math educators can create their own math problems using the book. Social studies educators can use this book as a tool to teach children about marketplaces and entrepreneurship.

For parents, this book is a tool to expose your young dreamer to African life and culture. In addition, this book serves as a tool to teach children that they can use math everyday.

This is a great book to add to the math or social studies section of your home or school library.

Handa’s Hen by Eileen Browne is a heartwarming mathematical journey. The story begins with a little girl named Handa searching for her favorite hen. During her search, Handa’s friend Akeyo joins her to find the hen. Throughout their journey, they encounter different types of animals, but they cannot find Handa’s hen. On every page, the two girls count the animals they encounter until the hen is found. The brilliant portraits-like illustrations allow children to visually take this fun journey with Handa and Akeyo.

For parents and educators, this is a great book to practice counting with your young dreamers. Parents and educators can also use the book to create addition and subtraction problems.

In sum, this is an amazing story that offers children an opportunity to take a fun mathematical journey. I recommend this book for the math section of your home or school library.

Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow discusses the power and purpose of names. When the main character’s name is mispronounced by her teacher, she wishes her name was easier to pronounce. Hearing this sentiment, the mother begins to teach her daughter the beauty and intention of names. She does the aforementioned through the powerful tool of song. At the end of the singing journey, the little girl has the confidence and deep understanding of the importance of her name. The next day the girl goes to school and teaches her teacher that her name and all other students names are songs too.

The colorful illustrations capture the seriousness of the topic while also showing a powerful mother-daughter bond. I especially love how the illustrator’s images and author’s words use the community as the classroom to teach the girl about names.

For parents, this is a powerful tool to reinforce the beauty and meaning of your child’s name. For educators, this book shows the impact and internal struggle kids endure when their name is mispronounced.

As a person of African descent with a Nigerian name, this book resonated with me. As a kid, I always knew when my name was about to be called in class because the teacher would pause and literally butcher it. The butchering of my name would result in laughter from my classmates, which caused me to dislike my name. I remember wishing my mother gave me a common American or European name. When I would ask my mom why she didn’t give me a normal name, she responded, “I gave you a name with a meaning. Your name means God’s way is the only way.”

Years ago, I met a man who lived in the region in Nigeria where my name comes from, and he said, “You must say your name correctly because every time someone calls your name, they are calling you by your purpose.

Too often, names from African, African-American and Middle-Eastern traditions are mispronounced by educators. This book captures neative impact that mispronouncing names has on children. It also captures the role of parents in encouraging their children to teach their teachers how to say their name.

I bought this book for our home library because I wanted to continue teaching my sons, who both have multiple Nigerian names, that their names are meaningful songs!

Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli is an engaging biography about the STEM hero and environmentalist Dr. Wangari Maathi. The story begins with Dr. Maathi learning about the power and utility of trees from her community. Using this indigenous knowledge from her elders, she solved pressing environmental problems facing people in Kenya. When women from neighboring communities asked for help, she provided each woman with tree seeds, which solved their problems and provided them with a sense of hope.

The illustrations by Kadir Nelson capture the power and presence of Dr. Maathi. I love how Nelson place haloes behind the heads of women in the story.

For parents and educators, this book provides an example of a change agent who combined indigenous knowledge and academic training to create societal change. The rich storyline, science themes, and civic action make this book great to use in English, Science, and Social Studies classes.

This is a must have book in your home or school library. It also serves as a great gift for a budding scientist who needs a real life STEM hero to admire.

Two Ways to Count to 10 retold by the famous actress and activist Rudy Dee is a must read classic book. One day, the king realizes he needs to create a succession plan. So, he creates a challenge that revolves around counting. The animal who counts to ten before a spear hits the ground will become the next king. Most of the animals try to count to ten, but they are unsuccessful. After watching all of the animals fail, one animal learns from their mistakes and skip counts by twos to ten before the spear hits the ground. This is an amazing story that teaches children to learn from observation to solve problems.

For parents and educators, this book is a great tool to teach children about critical thinking. It also is a tool to reinforce skip counting. This is a must have book to add to the math section of your home or school library.

Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott is a classic must read book! When Anansi gets into trouble he needs his sons to help him out of it. Each son has a special talent that they use to save their father. After they use their talents to save Anansi, he has a gift to give to the son who saved him, but he doesn’t know which son is responsible for saving him. The story ends with an interesting conclusion that children will love. The simple illustrations allow the kids to follow the story with ease.

For parents and educators, this is a powerful book to start a conversation with kids about their personal gifts and how it can be used to help others. For kids, this book is a powerful tool that teaches them that solving problems requires using their God-given talents.

This is a must have book for your home or school library. In addition, if you already have this book, then it is a must re-read book for children of all ages.

Easter in Lagos by Sharon Abimbola Salu is a must-read book! When Eyitomi, the main character, sees a lady in church, she suddenly misses her grandmother. A few moments later, Eyitomi’s mother tells her that grandma will not be visiting the family for Easter. The story focuses on the main character writing a letter to her grandmother on why she should spend next Easter in #Lagos.

This book offers children an opportunity to learn about the beauty of Nigerian culture, clothing, customs, and traditional dishes. It also teaches children the importance of Easter. The vibrant illustrations by Maria Nikla captures both familial love and wonders of city life in Nigeria. This is a must have book for your children’s home library!

My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel is a must read book! In the beginning of the story, the main character goes to the marketplace with his mother. He wonders around the marketplace and sees something really special, but in order to purchase this special item he must save. Thus, the main character decides to accompany his mother to the marketplace to earn money. Each trip he earns more and more money to get closer to his saving goal. In the evenings, he stacks and counts his coins to determine how close he is to his goal. As the story progresses, the reader will learn that the item he wants to buy is both for him and his family. This story ends with kids learning the importance of saving and hard work!

The thoughtful and realistic illustrations by E.B. Lewis allows the reader to visually experience life in an authentic African marketplace. In addition, the illustrator does an amazing job at capturing familial love.

For parents and educators, this book is a tool to teach children about creating saving goals. In addition, parents and educators can use this book to do basic adding and subtracting; it can also be used to do more complex math like multiplication and division.

I love this book because it combines a heartwarming story with math. This is a must have book to the math section of your home or school library.

Our Love for Mommy by Baba, Mama, and Sekeou Afrika is a wonderful book that celebrates mothers. The story begins with a mother being taking to the airport to travel. After dropping her off at the airport, the main character Sekeou begins to miss his mom. Her absence inspires a heartwarming question from Sekeou to his father, “Why do you love mommy?” This question sparks a deep loving dialogue between a father and son about the queen of their household. The father describes his wife as an intelligent, loving, caring, and supportive queen, who aided him in becoming a better man. He also tells his sons how they fell in love. The book ends with the son strengthening his love and appreciation for his mother.

I looooooove how the illustrations capture the warmth and necessity of Black familial love. Lastly, I love how the images celebrate Pan-African history and culture!

For fathers, this is a tool to teach our children what we love and appreciate about their mother. It is also a tool teach parents the importance of engaging in dialogue with our children about important matters of the heart. This is another great book from the Kujichagulia Press to add to your family library!

Abiyoyo, a South African folktale, is a book about a father and son who misuse their talents and gifts to cause trouble in the community. The duo is expelled from their community, but offered a chance at redemption when a monster shows up. Defeating the monster calls for them to use their musical and magical gifts. This book does a great job in discussing the importance of using one’s talents for the social good. It also offers great song along moments.

Mama Africa is a book about an Africana Hero from South Africa named Miriam Makeba. The book tells a story of a girl who grew up to be a woman who transformed her nation. This amazing story begins with her discovering her talent to sing and ends with her using it to defeat the racist apartheid government. This book teaches children the importance of using their talents to develop dreams of individual fulfilment and social impact.

The Water Princess is a compelling story based on the childhood experiences of Georgie Rachiel. The story begins with the young girl imagining she is the princess of the African sky. The author takes the reader on the daily journey she takes to gather water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. The story does an amazing job showing the beauty and innocence of childhood, while using Rachiel’s life to discuss an important issue — access to clean water. Accessing clean water is an issue that affects children throughout the world. This book serves as a tool to pose questions to children on the importance of access to clean water and how they could imagine ways to solve the problem.

The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can by Dr. Tererai Trent is an amazing autobiography that details the importance and power of education. As a child growing up in Zimbabwe, Dr. Trent is prevented from attending school because of her gender. The book tells how she successfully tore down the aforementioned barrier and used her education to serve her community. This book is a powerful tool for parents and teachers to teach children about the importance of education and responsibility of educated individuals to assist in the development of a better world.

Black Heroes: 51 Inspiring People from Ancient Africa to Modern-Day U.S.A. by Arlisha Norwood is a must-read book. This book does a powerful job in aiding children in understanding the visions, aspirations, barriers, and victories of Black heroes. With insights from the author, children will be inspired to develop their own dreams of personal fulfilment and social transformation. The lively portraits of each Black heroes serve as a visual inspiration for your young dreamer.

As a powerful feature, the author provides an insightful quote from each hero. This book provides the reader with numerous unsung heroes like Queen Nzigah (African ruler), Richard Allen (minister), Barbara Jordan (politician), and Daisy Bates (newspaper publisher). This is a must-read book that should be on every child’s bookshelf.

Mambo’s Toy Collection by Gladys Kenfack is a must-read book for future inventor. The story begins when an inquisitive little boy has an idea to make new toys out of things in his environment. In the process of making new toys, he enlists a friend who becomes his teammate in the invention process. The author presents the main character as having a big imagination, limitless curiosity, and desire to create. The vibrant colors and intentional artwork guide readers through the inventing process. This powerful book introduces children to the invention process in a fun and kid-friendly manner