Archive for the ‘Childrens Literature’ Category
by Lindsay on Jun 1st, 2012
Have you ever wanted to know what the tooth mouse is really like? A new bilingual children’s book by Sybrandus Adema, titled Tando, the Tooth Mouse of Muizenberg / Tando, die tandmuis van Muizenberg, is aimed specifically at children losing their milk teeth – and their parents. Watch a video on the making of the book below:
From the press release:
Welcome to the wonderful world of Tando, the most famous tooth mouse in Africa. This Superman of dental dramas destroys enemies faster than Batman can battle the baddies. And with more bravery than Spiderman and a bigger heart than the archbishop, he will point his tail to any adventure. After all, he’s a mouse on a massive mission – combat plaque with tooth and nail, whatever it takes!
In the wise words of Tando:
“May the tooth be with you. If not, may it be with Tando.”
Get to know the tooth mouse, the cat with seven lives and the snake that wants to gobble Tando up. Writer Sybrandus Adema and illustrator Liza Grobler offer a timeless, entertaining and educational book for children losing their milk teeth – and for their parents.
Visit the website for more information.
The making of Tando, the Tooth Mouse of Muizenberg:
Book details
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by Chiara on Apr 7th, 2011
Jeanne Demers is the creator of Ruby, the mascot of The Ruby Books. While riding her bike around New York, Demers would indulge in a game she calls “Catching Slack” (read more about it here). She would encounter homeless people, bike messengers and street performers during her slack catching adventures, and wrote down all of her interactions.
This led to the inception of Ruby, a story of a girl who rides a bike and encounters a host of different people along her journeys. In the process, Demers discovered her goal was not just to tell her story, but to inspire girls to tell their own stories and equip them with the tools to do so. The Ruby Books hopes to help the “Great Girls of the World” bring about balance, using the power of their well-told stories.
Here is what Ruby has to say:
Ruby News! is the way I’ve come up with to get Ruby out there into the world… where she belongs… so she can do her thing!
Ruby’s thing has always had to do with what it takes to find *and share* your voice… no doubt because of my own personal struggle with it. Now as I find and share my voice, I do it with girls in mind. Because I imagine this:
I imagine how great girl voices combined with the power of well-told stories might help to balance and heal the world.
Watch the video:
» read article
by Chiara on Nov 9th, 2010
Today the winners of the Golden Baobab Awards for youth literature was announced in Accra, Ghana. The rebranded Golden Baobab Prize (formerly known as the Baobab Prize) is the only prize of its kind, awarded to the African authors whose writing is targeted at young readers around the world.
The contest is held annually and is open to all African citizens regardless of age, race or where they live. The target audience for the written stories are between the ages of 8-11 and 12-15 years.
This year, Lauri Kubuitsile from Botswana won the Golden Baobab Prize in the 12-15 years category for her story, Mechanic’s Son. Mirirai Moyo from Zimbabwe won the Golden Baobab Prize for Diki, the Little Earthworm in the 8-11 years category and Kenya’s Ahmed Farah’s won the Golden Baobab Rising Writer Award for his Letters from the Flames. The award is given to a young writer 18 years and below who shows exceptional literary talent for his-her age.
Up-and-coming young writer, Ahmed Farah:
Here’s the Golden Baobab shortlist for stories targeted at readers 8-11 years:
Dorothy Dyer (South Africa) for War Stories
Gothataone Moeng (Botswana), The Rainmakers of Botalaote
Lauri Kubuitsile (Botswana), Lightning and Thunderers
And the Golden Baobab shortlist for stories targeted at readers 12-15 years:
Jenny Robson (South Africa), Only the Stones Still Cry
Patrick Ochieng (Kenya), Neighbours
Winners receive a monetary prize as well as contact with publishers all over the world, so if you think you have a knack for writing and storytelling that will appeal to a youth audience, enter your stories for next year’s Golden Baobab Awards.
Images courtesy GoldenBaobabOrg
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by Jani on Aug 25th, 2010
The Outreach Council of the African Studies Association (ASA) presents the winners of it’s annual Children’s Africana Book Awards. Among this year’s recipients are, South African author Beverley Naidoo for her book Burn My Heart and Nelson Mandela: The Authorised Comic Book, a graphic novel produced by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in collaboration with Umlando Wezithombe. Egypt and Mali are the countries featured in the two remaining winning titles; Pharaoh’s Boat by David L. Weitzman and Trouble in Timbuktu by Cristina Kessler. The actual award ceremony will be held on the 6th of November at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington DC.
Book details
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by Sophy on Apr 9th, 2009
Shelagh McLoughlin of The Weekender provides us with a review of a most unusual book, We Are All Born Free, which introduces the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through a series of illustrations.
We Are All Born Free, published to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Declaration, features “twenty-one of the world’s best illustrators” including South Africa’s Niki Daly. McLouglin’s review is not pure carrot – she is wary of the difficulty that smaller readers will have comprehending the book’s hefty subject matter – yet she commends the book nonetheless as a “worthwhile investment”:
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by Ben - Editor on Oct 24th, 2008
Alex Smith reviews Margie Orford and Andrew Walton’s The Adventures of the Very Brave and Particular Nose. It’s a firm carrot; here’s the complete review:
What do you do if one fine Cape day your usually friendly dog unexpectedly leaps up and bites your neighbour’s child in the face? After all the blood and tears, apologies and emergency room stitches, if you are an internationally published crime writer like Margie Orford, whose novels are translated into several languages including Russian and French, you turn the terrible trauma into a story, and then of course a book.
(more…)
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