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Reading Through Africa: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

Feb9

Still reading through south central Africa, today we’re in the country of Malawi. Malawi is another country that borders Zambia, where a group from my church will be traveling this summer to work at Kazembe Orphanage. (If you are interested in participating in this mission trip by donating books to the Kazembe Orphanage, see this post at Semicolon for details.)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has been billed as a story of scientific and technological innovation, but it couldjust as well be advertised as a survival story. Much of the first half of the book tells how William and his family survived a horrendous famine in 2002 brought on partly by natural disaster (drought), but also exacerbated by government ineptitude and apathy. William is unable to attend school past the primary level, since his family can only afford one communal meal per day during the famine. School fees are out of the question.

By the time the famine is over, with William’s family still too poor to send him to school, William borrows a book from the local lending library. The book, Using Energy, tells about windmills, and William sets out to build a windmill for his family to generate electricity using old bicycles, scrap metal, and tractor parts. He calls his invention, “electric wind.”

The story of how William manages to study on his own and then scrounge and save to beg, borrow, and buy the things he needs for his windmill is inspiring but also somewhat sad. Why do I have so much when others have so little? It’s amazing that William Kamkwamba was able to overcome opposition, prejudice, and a lack of education to build something that improved the life of his family. I wonder what I would have been able to make of my life without all of the advantages that I have enjoyed as a citizen of one of the richest nations in the world.

I would suggest you read the book if you’re interested at all in this sort of story; however, you can also read more about Mr. Kamkwamba and his windmill at the following websites:

William Kamkwamba: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Bryan Mealer’s website
Moving Windmills

Reading Through Africa: Blood River by Tim Butcher

Feb6

I’m focusing my Reading Through Africa project on south central Africa because of the mission trip that some members of my church are planning for this summer to Zambia. They will be working at Kazembe Orphanage in July, God willing, and I am trying to help them to prepare for that journey.

However, my reading has distributed itself around and about Zambia for the most part because I’m finding very little fiction or nonfiction actually set in Zambia itself. I have a list of a few titles that someone very kindly suggested to me, but so far I haven’t found too many of them available at the library. Anyway, the following book takes place in the Democratic Republic of Congo which borders Zambia, and it has given me a feel for the political situation, the culture, the peoples, and the rhythms of the entire region of south central Africa, although of course, conditions in one country cannot be generalized and made applicable to all nations in the region. Kazembe Orphanage is located just across the river from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart by Tim Butcher. Mr. Butcher set out in 2004 to retrace the footsteps of the famous British explorer Henry Morton Stanley across the Democratic Republic of the Congo from east to west, from the eastern border town of Kalemie on the shore of Lake Tanganyika to the Congo River and downriver to the Atlantic coast. Stanley was the first outsider to map the Congo River as he traveled its length in 1874-1877, almost losing his life in the process. Tim Butcher hears repeatedly while planning his own journey that the trip is “impossible” and at the least “very dangerous.” In spite of war, terrorism, widespread corruption and lack of governmental authority, Mr. Butcher makes his way across the DRC by motorbike, steamer, and dugout canoe, and as he travels he recalls the history of the places he travels through and reports on the present-day conditions. In almost every case, the state of the towns and the people in the DRC is pitiable and far more perilous and poverty-stricken than it was back in the mid-twentieth century before and immediately after the country gained its independence from Belgium (1960). From Wikipedia:

The Second Congo War, beginning in 1998, devastated the country, involved seven foreign armies and is sometimes referred to as the “African World War”. Despite the signing of peace accords in 2003, fighting continues in the east of the country. In eastern Congo, the prevalence of rape and other sexual violence is described as the worst in the world. The war is the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, killing 5.4 million people.
Although citizens of the DRC are among the poorest in the world, having the second lowest nominal GDP per capita, the Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered to be the richest country in the world regarding natural resources; with untapped deposits of raw minerals estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion.

The contrast between the wealth of natural resources in the country and the poverty of the people is astounding and heart-breaking as Mr. Butcher travels through one wrecked, crumbling, and lawless town after another. He concludes that the greatest need in the DRC is not money or even education, but simple stability and even justice and the rule of law. Without a framework and infrastructure of honest government the people cannot be safe enough to begin to improve their lives or to educate their children to something better. Blood River gives consequently a tragic picture of prospects for the future in the DRC, as Mr. Butcher sees little or nothing that would lead him to hope that the DRC will change or become a more law-abiding and decent place to live. Indeed, according to Wikipedia again, “In 2009 people in the Congo may still be dying at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month, and estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000. The death toll is due to widespread disease and famine; reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under the age of 5. This death rate has prevailed since efforts at rebuilding the nation began in 2004.”

Hope for The Democratic Republic of the Congo and its people:
Among Congo’s hardened rebels: 500+ baptisms (Baptist Press)
Frontline Fellowship: From Communist Chaos to Christ in the Congo.
Congo Initiative. To train and develop strong, indigenous Christian leaders to transform their communities and their nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Heal Africa

The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness by Delia and Mark Owens

Jan24

Epic is right. Mark and Delia Owens first went to Africa in 1974 to study lion behavior in the Kalahari Desert. They lived in the desert for seven years and wrote a book about their experiences, Cry of the Kalahari. The couple then returned to the U.S. to complete their graduate work and then attempted to return to their work in Botswana. However, when the government of Botswana declared them persona non grata, they were forced to look for another place to carry on their vocation in wildlife management and conservation. North Luangwa National Park in Zambia and the preservation of the endangered elephant population there became their mission.

Mission, obsession, calling—all these words are somewhat inadequate to describe the dedication with which Mark Owens in particular approaches the task of protecting the elephants from poachers who are slaughtering the elephants for the meat and for the ivory trade. Mr. Owens literally endangers his own life while trying every trick, weapon, and argument in the book to stop the poachers. He flies daily (and nightly) “missions” to find the poachers. He begs and encourages and bribes the native Zambian game guards to do their jobs and arrest the poachers, without much success. He sends letters of appeal and sends radio messages to anyone he thinks might help. And all the while, the elephants are being killed at the rate of several thousand per year.

Finally, in October 1989, seventy-six nations vote to list the African elephant as an endangered species and to forbid trade in ivory and all other elephant parts. This action along with the Owens’ work in confronting poachers and educating Zambian villagers about the value of wildlife in attracting tourism dollars is instrumental in slowing to a near-halt the poaching of elephants on a large-scale basis.

Of course, after reading an entire book about the anti-poaching efferts of Delia and Mark Owens, I had to see what the couple is doing now and what the status of the elephants in North Luangwa is now. The Owens have returned to the U.S., but their conservation and education project in North Luangwa continues under the auspices of Zambian Hammer Simwinga and the Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation. The Owens have most recently been working on grizzly bear conservation in North Idaho. The elephant population in North Luangwa is said to be slowly increasing.

I’m not really an animal person. While I think it is a worthwhile goal to save endangered species, such as the African elephant, it’s not a cause I feel called to give my life to. Still, I am interested in Africa, and particularly in Zambia this year, so I found the adventures of Mark and Delia Owens fascinating.

Reading Through Africa

Jan22

Niger portrait femme woman Africaphoto © 2005 etrenard | more info (via: Wylio)
I am not African American. I have no African heritage or ancestry as far as I know. However, I have been for some time interested in reading books set in the various nations of Africa or books written by African authors. In fact, I’ve been collecting ideas for this reading and links to reviews of African-flavored books for over a year. So today, in honor of Bloggiesta, I decided to pull those lists out my drafts folder, put them onto separate pages of their own, and share them.

Obviously, these lists are not complete. I will be reading and gathering ideas for reading and adding books and links to reviews for . . . as long as I remain interested in the project. If you have any suggestions, blog reviews, or other information to add to my Africa pages, please leave a comment. If you’re looking for a book to read about Africa or about a specific African country, check out my Reading Through Africa pages.

This is going to be fun.

Related blogs and pages:
African fiction #1 at Kinna Reads.
Image Nations: Promoting African Literature (from Accra, Ghana)
BrownGirl BookSpeak
Sunday Salon at Semicolon: Reading Through Africa
Books for Zambia: an ongoing project.

Travels With Gannon and Wyatt: Botswana by Patti Wheeler and Keith Hemstreet

Nov27

Travels With Gannon and Wyatt is something different in the world of children’s books. At least, I’ve never seen a book or a series quite like it. Travels With Gannon and Wyatt: Botswana is the first book in a prospective series of fictional travel adventures featuring homeschooled twin brothers, Gannon and Wyatt Wheeler, sons of the co-author Patti Wheeler. The idea, as I understand it, is to take the adventures of real brothers, Gannon and Wyatt, and cast them into a story that will hold kids’ interest and at the same time teach them something about the world and its inhabitants, both animals and people. In this first book the brothers go to Botswana where they see and photograph all kinds of wildlife on safari and encounter the most dangerous animals of all, human poachers.

So how successful is this first book in the series? Well, great literature it’s not, but Ms. Wheeler and Mr. Hemstreet do tell an engrossing adventure story featuring a couple of intrepid young explorers. The story unfolds in the form of journal entries, alternating between Gannon’s voice and Wyatt’s. Each boy tells the story of their African adventure from his unique point of view: Gannon, the philosophical people person and Wyatt, the scientific fact gatherer. The boys have a LOT of adventures for one book: seeing all of the Big Five (lions, cafe buffalo, rhinos, leopards, and elephants) and also several more dangerous and fascinating animals, visiting a Bushmen village, rescuing a wounded lioness, and foiling poachers, among other events. Wyatt gets sick at one point in the story with an unknown African illness, and he almost dies. Gannon is charged by an aggressive lion, and then when they run out of food on safari, the boys get a taste of roasted black mamba.

By the way, mambas seem to be popular in kidlit this year. Trendspotter that I am, I’ve noticed the prominence of the nasty poisonous buggers in three of the books I’ve read so far for the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction: Mamba Point by Kurtis Scaletta, Belly Up by Sturart GIbbs, and now Travels With Gannon and Wyatt: Botswana. I also learned a lot about hippos from this book and from Belly Up!. Did you know that hippos are among the most dangerous animals in the African bush and that they have a penchant for overturning boats? Both books agreed on this fact, so it must be true.

I think boys in particular who have a yen for travel and adventure will get a kick out of these books. The first book comes with a DVD with video footage of the real Gannon and Wyatt on their trek through Botswana. And if kids are really into the whole travel/adventure/series thing, they can go the Travels With Gannon and Wyatt website where they can join the Youth Exploration Society, read the boys’ blog, or purchase Gannon and Wyatt merchandise. Future books in the series will feature Gannon and Wyatt in The Great Bear Rainforest, Egypt, and the Serengeti.

Other takes:
Carrie at 5 Minutes for Books: “I found Travels with Gannon and Wyatt: Botswana to be imaginative and engaging. It reads like a positive adventure story with lots of geographical facts thrown in so the reader is picking up information on the country or continent in focus.”

Roberta at Wrapped in Foil: “It becomes apparent the adventures in the book are fictionalized. The boys would have to be pretty unlucky to encounter all the things that befall them. Starting out with a close call with a mother white rhino that knocks their own mother out of the vehicle they are riding in, the boys run up against everything from frightening giant crocodiles to being held hostage by an angry poacher.”

Travels With Gannon and Wyatt: Botswana has been nominated for the 2010 Cybils Awards in the Middle Grade Fiction category.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go first? Civilized or wild? Culture and history or wildlife and roughing it? You probably already know I’m in the first category. I’d head straight for London and Oxford and Stratford-on-the-Avon if I could. But I did enjoy reading about Gannon’s and Wyatt’s exploits in the African bush.

Sunday Salon, Sunday Fascinations

Nov7

A list of ten favorite quotations from children’s literature. Ooooh, I want one. I’ll have to make my own.

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Connie Willis has a new set of two books (a twology?) about her crazy time-traveling historians. The books are Blackout and All Clear, and in these two books the historians are traveling to World War II Britain. I can’t wait, but I’ll have to wait until after Cybils season. Maybe someone will give me the two volume set for Christmas? Hint, hint. Review of Blackout at Becky’s Book Reviews.

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I don’t really like short stories. Even if they’re good, they’re disappointing because there’s not enough. Nevertheless, this list, compiled by a group of NPR interns, looks worthwhile. I might even find a short story that I can enjoy on its own terms.

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I’m working on a project of collecting books for this orphanage in Zambia. Today I’ll list the picture books that I would like to send/take to Zambia this summer, and on future Sundays I’ll list the easy readers and middle grade fiction books that I would like to take to be placed in the library there. If you would be interested in helping with this project by providing any of the books (new, or used in good condition), please email me for more information. You can order any of the books from Amazon by clicking on the title link and have them sent to me (yes, I get a small kickback from Amazon which I will use to purchase more books). Right now the plan is for a group from my church to go to Zambia this summer and take the books that we have gathered with them.

Rabbit Makes A Monkey of Lion by Verna Aardema
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
This for That: A Tonga Tale by Verna Aardema
My Five Senses by Aliki.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault and Bill Martin.
Listen to the Rain by John Archambault and Bill Martin.
Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
Flash, Crash, Rumble and Roll by Franklyn Branley.
The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.
Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan
Along the Luangwa: A Story of an African Floodplain by Schuyler Bull.
Crocodile Crossing by Schuyler Bull.
I Can’t Said the Ant by Polly Cameron.
Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle.
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Does God Know How to Tie Shoes by Nancy Carlstrom.
Mama Panya’s Pancakes by Mary Chamberlin.
The Little Fish That Got Away by Bernadine Cook.
Not So Fast, Songololo by Niki Daly.
Pretty Salma by Niki Daly.
The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola.
The Hatseller and the Monkeys by Baba Waque Diakite.
Feel the Wind by Arthur Dorros.
Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean by Arthur Dorros.
Petunia by Roger Duvoisin.
Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert.
Take This Hammer by Beryl and Sam Epstein.
Jambo Means Hello by Muriel Feelings.
Moja Means One by Muriel Feelings.
Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag.
Trucks by Gail Gibbons.
Each Orange Had 8 Slices by Paul Giganti.
How Many Snails by Paul Giganti.
Look What Came from Africa by Miles Harvey.
Count Your Way Through Africa by James Haskins.
How Animals Care for their Babies by Roger Hirschland.
Count and See by Tana Hoban.
Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Green? By Tana Hoban.
My Hands Can by Jean Hozenthaler.
Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins.
At the Crossroads by Rachel Isadora.
Over the Green Hills by Rachel Isadora.
Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats.
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats.
The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats.
Africa Is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight.
A Hole Is to Dig by Ruth Krauss.
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss.
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.
Jafta by Hugh Lewin.
Jafta and the Wedding by Hugh Lewin.
Jafta’s Mother by Hugh Lewin.
Jafta’s Father by Hugh Lewin.
Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni.
Swimmy by Leo Lionni.
Eating Fractions by Bruce Macmillan.
Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier.
Africa’s Animal Giants by Jane McCauley.
Animals in Summer by Jane McCauley.
Ways Animals Sleep by Jane McCauley.
Growing Colors by Bruce McMillan.
One Hen by Katie Smith Milway.
A Kiss for Little Bear by Else Minarik.
My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa Mollel.
Bread, Bread Bread by Ann Morris.
Houses and Homes by Ann Morris.
Shoes, Shoes by Ann Morris.
On the Go by Ann Morris.
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel.
Sikulu & Harambe by the Zambezi River; An African Version of the Good Samaritan Story by Kunle Oguneye.
Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill.
Vacation in the Village by Pierre Njeng.
A Is For Africa by Ifeoma Onyefulu.
Chidi Only Likes Blue: An African Book of Colours by Ifeoma Onyefulu.
Emeka’s Gift by Ifeoma Onyefulu.
Triangle for Adaora: An African Book of Shapes by Ifeoma Onyefulu.
The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
The Ocean Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta.
The Yucky Reptile Alpahbet Book by Jerry Pallotta.
The Toolbox by Anne Rockwell.
Machines by Anne Rockwell.
The Bicycle Man by Allen Say.
Somewhere in the World Right Now by Stacy Schuett.
Seeds and More Seeds by Millicent Selsam
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.
Noah’s Ark by Peter Spier.
Monkey Sunday: A Story from a Congolese Village by Sanna Stanley.
Elizabeti’s Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen.
Elizabeti’s School by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen.
Mama Elizabeti by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen.
Babu’s Song by Stephanie Stuve Bodeen.
I Love My Hair by Natasha Tarpley.
Oh Not Toto by Katrin Tchana and Louise Tchana Pami.
Rain Drop Splash by Alvin Tresselt.
The Camel Who Took a Walk by Jack Tworkov.
Four Feet Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams.
Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams.

If you have more suggestions for picture books that would be especially appropriate for preschoolers in an orphanage in Zambia, please leave your suggestions in the comments section. If you want more information about donating books to this project, email me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom.

Sunday Salon: Reading Through Africa

Aug21

The Sunday Salon.comI have so many fascinations that I’m either a Renaissance woman or a complete dilettante. One of my areas of reading interest is fiction and nonfiction set in Africa. All of Africa. I’ve been collecting a booklist of books set in or about Africa for sometime, categorized by country. I look through the Saturday Review each Saturday for books that I might want to read, especially for books set in Africa. (I also look for lots of other kinds of books: Texas-related, Christianity, YA with depth, historical fiction about certain eras and places, anything related to the Inklings, etc.)

I don’t even know why I’m so interested in Africa. I’m not African American. I’ve never been to Africa, and actually I’d rather visit Europe than Africa. But I like to read about the clash of cultures in Africa. I like to read about a continent in which Christianity and Islam and animist religious beliefs compete for the allegiance of the people. There’s something mysterious and yet often inspiring about Africa’s transition into the modern technological era while retaining old cultural modes and ideas.

This week I found one book set in Africa in the list from the Saturday Review of Books: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. It was reviewed and recommended by Heather at Capricious Reader. I had already seen this book at the bookstore and planned to read it. Heather says it’s about an inquisitive young man who essentially taught himself science, engineering, and technology and used that knowledge to improve his own life and that of his village. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

Right now I’m reading another book partially set in Africa: Tracy Kidder’s Strength in What Remains. The protagonist of this book, also nonfiction, is from war-torn Burundi. So, do you have any favorite books set in Africa or written by African authors or related to Africa? Steer me in the right direction in the comments, and I’ll add your favorites to my list of African books by country, a list I plan to add to the blog eventually.

The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris

Aug13

Paul Harris is a British journalist, and The Secret Keeper, according to the author blurb, is his debut novel. It’s a good one.

The story, set in twenty-first century Sierra Leone, follows journalist Danny Kellerman as he attempts to discover the reasons behind a letter from his former girlfriend:

Danny,

I need you. I’m in trouble. I know it’s been too long. I’m sorry. It’s my fault and I hope you forgive me. I can’t use the phones or email to ask you this. They are not safe. I need you to come to Freetown to help me. I’ll explain it all then.

All my love as ever,
Maria

When Danny receives Maria’s letter, he’s immediately drawn back into thoughts of his previous stay in Freetown, Sierra Leone, four years earlier. And he remembers Maria, the beautiful American aid worker whose life’s work was to rescue and rehabilitate the child soldiers of the RUF (Revolutionary United Front).

Since the novel is set in a still violent and unsettled Sierra Leone, where people are trying to forget the past as much as deal with it, there is a lot of nasty violence in the book. There are also way too many f-bombs. However, I chose to ignore these issues because I’m quite interested in Africa, and particularly in Sierra Leone. I have a young friend who left that country as a boy over ten years ago, and who was severely injured in the violence that engulfed Sierra Leone in the 1990’s. My friend, E., survived; many young boys who would be his age now did not.

I learned some things from this novel that I did not know before:

Sierra Leone is rich in diamonds, and in fact, much of the war there was fueled and financed by the diamond mines. I sort had an impression that diamonds had something to do with the trouble in Sierra Leone, but the book and other stuff I read online clarified that connection.

Many of the diamond mines used to be operated by Lebanese businessmen. The Lebanese have been immigrating to Sierra Leone since the late 1800’s, and by the mid-twentieth century many of them had become rich and powerful as traders, particularly traders of diamonds, both legally and illegally.

The RUF army was brutal. The leaders of the army recruited children, ages seven to twelve, and often forced them to murder their parents and other family members. They also had a “tradition” of amputating hands, arms, and legs of captured soldiers and of civilians. However, they were non-ideological, espousing neither Marxism nor fascist nationalism nor any other real ideology. They seemingly thrived on pure evil and violence and a desire for power.

The war in Sierra Leone is estimated to have cost the lives of 200,000 people, with countless wounded.

The Secret Keeper was a disturbing spy-novel look at a modern day atrocity. The book was originally recommended to me by SuziQOregon at Whimpulsive.

Fiction from the African Game Reserve

May31

Akimbo and the Elephants by Alexander McCall Smith.
Akimbo and the Lions.
Akimbo and the Snakes.
Akimbo and the Baboons.
Akimbo and the Crocodile Man.

Yes, this series of easy-to-read chapter books was written by the same Alexander McCall Smith who penned the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series for adults. I have enjoyed almost all of McCall Smith’s adult fiction titles, and I must say that Akimbo captured my heart, too. I read Akimbo and the Elephants in which Akimbo, who lives “in the heart of Africa” and “on the edge of a large game reserve,” bravely foils the plans of a gang of elephant poachers.

The prose was easy to read and still engaging. The print is nice and bold, and the entire story is only sixty-eight pages long. This one would appeal to seven to ten year olds and be simple without becoming boringly babyish. The hero of the story, Akimbo, is about eight or nine years old, and if his adventure is a bit unbelievable, it’s the kind of escapade an eight or nine year old boy would like to perform. The illustrations are by LeUyen Pham, the same artist who did the Alvin Ho books, and if I ever write a book, I want her to illustrate it. Look at Akimbo on the cover. Isn’t he the epitome of boyish mischief and bravery?

The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John.
Dolphin Song.
The Last Leopard.
The Elephant’s Tale.

Of this series, called Legend of the Animal Healer, I read the first and second books. The series is set on a game reserve in South Africa, and the protagonist this time is a girl, Martine, who has a special gift for understanding and healing animals. In The White Giraffe Martine becomes friends with a one-of-a-kind white giraffe named Jeremiah (Jemmy for short), and together the two again foil the plans of a gang of poachers. There’s a mystical element to the story since Martine is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and carries a special gift related to animals that she must learn to use wisely, and the underlying message of the story keeps edging from ecological responsibility over into nature worshipp-y silliness. But in the first two books at least, that second message is subtle enough to be ignored if you want.

The bad guys in Dolphin Song are not exactly poachers, and the action in this one moves to the ocean and the islands off the west coast of South Africa near Mozambique. Martine is still saving endangered animals, dolphins this time, and the story is again exciting and suspenseful and a bit mysterious and magical. However, Martine comes across as a real girl with her own problems getting along with her family and making friends with her classmates. These stories are for a little older age group than the Akimbo books, nine to twelve years old, I’d guess.

I recommend Akimbo and the Animal Healer books to any children who are interested in books set in Africa or fascinated by African animals and their preservation. I’ve been reading quite a few books set in Africa lately, and these are some of the best children’s books I’ve found so far.

Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi

May26

Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi.

Recommended by Laura at Musings: “In 1972, Moroccan defense minister General Mohamed Oufkir staged a failed coup d’etat against King Hassan II. Oufkir was reported to have committed suicide, but was found with five bullet wounds. In retaliation for the coup, his entire family was imprisoned: Oufkir’s wife, Fatima, and his children Malika, Raouf, Soukaina, Maria, Myriam, and Abdellatif. A cousin, Achoura, and a close family friend, Halima, joined them. Malika Oufkir was 17 years old; her brother Abdellatif was only 3.”

This nonfiction account of a family kept in cruel and unusual confinement in the desert of Morocco reminded me of nothing so much as Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The Oufkir family were so badly treated and so cut off from the world for so very long that they, like the fictional Dr. Manette, were impaired in body, mind and soul when they were finally freed from the prisons of King Hassan II.

Malika Oufkir’s story is that of the spoiled rich girl brought low by injustice and subsequently redeemed through suffering and finally freed to appreciate a new life and love. It’s a classic plot, and the fact that it’s a true story, as trustworthy as memoirs can be these days, makes it all the more compelling. Some parts of the story are difficult to believe: Malika says that as a nineteen year old, educated and well-travelled, she had no idea that her father was a murderer and a tyrant. Perhaps not, but then again, maybe she chose her own blind spots. She also describes scenes of treatment so horrendous during the twenty years of her imprisonment that I would choose to disbelieve her testimony if I could, not wanting to believe that man can be so cruel to his fellowman. Western law embodies the principle that no person’s family should be punished for that person’s crimes. Malika, her mother, and her five brothers and sisters are cruelly punished for the crimes of Malika’s father, a fate that Ms. Oufkir says was not uncommon in Morocco under Hassan II.

An amazing story human resilience and courage. Read it and weep.