Africa at the Internet Archive: Cameroon and Nigeria

I have two beautiful children's books to share today, both inspired by traditional stories from western Africa, and both just a click away at the Internet Archive!

The first is Sense Pass King: A Story from Cameroon by Katrin Tchana.

The title itself is a great excuse to talk with students about the many varieties of English in Africa, and the importance of African language heritage in varieties of American English too, like AAVE and Gullah (I'll have more to say about that when I start writing about African American resources at the Internet Archive in February). The story is full of adventure; page by page, you get to see the heroine come into her own powers, surpassing the king.

The illustrations are by Trina Schart Hyman. This illustration shows the story's heroine with her animal helpers:

Tchana and Hyman have collaborated on other books. One of those, The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women, contains three different folktales from African (Egypt, Gambia, and Cameroon); here is an illustration for "The Marriage of Two Masters" (Gambia):

Another one of their books you can find at the Internet Archive is Changing Woman and Her Sister: Stories of Goddesses from Around the World, which includes two goddess from Africa: Isis (Egypt) and Mawu (Fon people of Benin). Here is Mawu:

And here is the frontispiece of the book; it shows "The Mother, who is the source of all goddess stories."

The second African folktale I want to feature today is In the Rainfield: Who Is the Greatest? by Isaac Olaleye.

Isaac Olaleye is a Nigerian writer, now residing in California (he's in his 80s, but I believe he is still with us!). Olaleye is also the author of fictional stories set in Africa, including Lake of the Big Snake: An African Rain Forest Adventure, Bitter Bananas, and Bikes for Rent!

The illustrations for this book are by Ann Grifalconi, a writer and artist that I've featured previously: Village of Round and Square Houses. The story is about the struggle among Wind, Fire, and Rain to determine who is the greatest of the three, and here's her rendering of the presence of fire in a gorgeous two-page spread:

And here is her rendering of Rain: wow!

So, children's books like these that develop a single story with vivid words and beautiful pictures are a great way to bring African folktales to life in your imagination... and you will find many more such children's books at the Internet Archive, with stories not just from Africa but from all around the world.

Sense Pass King: A Story from Cameroon

by Katrin Tchana

In the Rainfield: Who Is the Greatest?

by Isaac Olaleye