Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country

by Atinuke, Mouni Feddag (Illustrator)

Overview

Discover the exhilarating diversity of the African continent in storyteller Atinuke’s kaleidoscopic nonfiction guide to the people, flora, and fauna of all fifty-five countries.

A Nigerian storyteller explores the continent of Africa country by country: its geography, peoples, animals, history, resources, and cultural diversity. The book is divided into five distinct sections—South, East, West, Central, and North—and each country is showcased on its own bright, energetic page brimming with friendly facts on science, industry, food, sports, music, wildlife, landscape features, even snippets of local languages. The richest king, the tallest sand dunes, and the planet’s largest waterfall all make appearances along with drummers, cocoa growers, inventors, balancing stones, salt lakes, high-tech cities, and nomads who use GPS! Atinuke’s lively and comprehensive introduction to all fifty-five African countries—a celebration scaled to dazzle and delight even very young readers—evokes the continent’s unique blend of modern and traditional. Complete with colorful maps, an index, and richly patterned and textured illustrations by debut children’s book artist Mouni Feddag, Africa, Amazing Africa is both a beautiful gift book and an essential classroom and social studies resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536205374
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	11/16/2021
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	370,956
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 11.30(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Atinuke is the Nigerian-born author of many books for children, including the Anna Hibiscus and No. 1 Car Spotter series. She started her career as an oral storyteller of tales from the African continent. Now she draws on her recent Yoruba ancestry to write about contemporary life in Nigeria. She currently lives in Wales.

Mouni Feddag is a British-Algerian illustrator and designer whose clients have included Anthropologie; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Real Simple. Africa, Amazing Africa is her first book for children. She lives in Nottingham, England.

Editorial Reviews

The text is lively and engaging, concisely conveying the astounding richness of history and culture that make the continent of Africa so exciting to explore. . . Atinuke can make a nonfiction book every bit as fun to follow as a storybook. Readers will leave this volume full of new, amazing views and eager to discover more. . . This loving tribute is absolutely dazzling.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A cheerful, browsable overview of Africa’s 55 countries. . . Atinuke’s first foray into nonfiction admirably presents an accessible and engaging narrative with its nuanced treatment of a continent too often depicted in relation to its extremes.
—School Library Journal

Nigerian storyteller Atinuke (Too Small Tola, 2020) presents the beautiful diversity and contrasts of a continent of more than a billion people in her first nonfiction work. . . attractive and informative.
—Booklist

Written in an accessible, conversational style which will appear to readers whose knowledge of the continent and its countries may vary. . . this title will provide readers much enlightenment about the African continent.
—School Library Connection

There are fascinating pieces of information about each country, accompanied by charming illustrations.
—Book Riot

From the Publisher

10/01/2021

Gr 2–5—A cheerful, browsable overview of Africa's 55 countries (including Western Sahara). The brief introduction highlights the continent's vast diversity of cultures, languages, climates, and geographies, as well as the major discoveries of its ancient civilizations. Divided into five sections by geographic region (north, east, west, central, and southern), each country gets an illustrated page with a paragraph-length description focused on key aspects of its history, economy, or cultural traditions. There are also two to three bite-size, bullet-point facts about topics ranging from wildlife to geography, mythology, or national pastimes. Information is too broad for research assignments but will delight curious browsers with its joyful, energetic illustrations and appealing assortment of trivia—for example, that there are more pyramids in Sudan than Egypt, the beaches of Namibia are home to more than a thousand shipwrecks, and Lake Tele in the Republic of the Congo is the rumored home of a mythical monster called the Mokele-Mbembe. Contrasts are a cross-cutting theme, from the intersection of traditional lifestyles with contemporary ones (e.g., Eritrean nomad communities using GPS and cellular apps to track rainfall patterns) to the wide class differences within many countries. The facts are complemented by vibrant, wonder-filled renderings. Back matter includes an index and recommended websites for further reading. VERDICT Atinuke's first foray into nonfiction admirably presents an accessible and engaging narrative with its nuanced treatment of a continent too often depicted in relation to its extremes.—Elizabeth Giles, Kansas City P.L., MO

School Library Journal

★ 2021-09-24
Established storyteller Atinuke, of Anna Hibiscus fame, introduces every country on the African continent.

Africa is enormous. Africa is diverse. The people, the geography, the languages, the religions, the living conditions, the animals, the political systems—discovering all the differences and interesting facts becomes an adventure in this fascinating collection. The book’s introduction offers samples of the amazing historical and contemporary distinctions unique to the continent. Each region is introduced in a double-page spread with an illustrated map featuring animals and buildings, flora and minerals, text with welcome written in a plethora of regional languages, a list of the countries in the region, and a survey of some special features of the region. Within the sections, each country is represented on one page, with a paragraph of descriptive text, a colorful half-page illustration, and one to three interesting facts. The text is lively and engaging, concisely conveying the astounding richness of history and culture that make the continent of Africa so exciting to explore. Small wonder that Atinuke can make a nonfiction book every bit as fun to follow as a storybook. Readers will leave this volume full of new, amazing views and eager to discover more about the familiar and unfamiliar territories covered here. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

This loving tribute is absolutely dazzling. (index, resources) (Nonfiction. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews