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Sharie
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| Posted: Sept 02 2006 at 11:45am | IP Logged
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Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a good family (1st-11th grades) read aloud that is set in Africa. We are planning on using "Around the World in 180 Days" this year...although I am doing some tweaking and Catholicizing. 
If you don't recognize my name, you are right...I am new around here. Go to the intros and you will find out more.
Blessings,
Sharie
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Maddie
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| Posted: Sept 02 2006 at 9:29pm | IP Logged
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Hi Sharie,
Welcome to the board.
Just a quick suggestion. The "Treasure Box" books by Tan are wonderful for the Prek-3rd grade crowd and have wonderful stories about the White Fathers and White Sisters who labored for souls in Africa.
There's also "The White Fathers" by Glenn Kittler, published by Harper. Great book for the older set.
__________________
~Maddie~
Wife to my dh and Momma of 9 dear ones
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Kelly
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| Posted: Sept 03 2006 at 9:42pm | IP Logged
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Well, it's definitely not Catholic, but the "Story of Albert Schweitzer" was one of my favorites as a kid. Back then, it didn't particularly strike me as having any religious slant, but I haven't re-read it in a long time.
"The Lion" by Kessel (I think) was also one of my old favorites. About a girl and a lion she adopts, and Masaii customs involving hunting a lion when a boy comes of age. Again, I haven't read it in years, but I really loved this book.
Then, of course, there's always "Born Free" by Adamson. If your children love animals, it's a keeper.
I'd roughly put the reading level for the above books at 5th+, 6th+ and 8th+, in order of appearence.
Oh, "A Far Off Place" by Laurens Van Der Post is really good, too, but might have some overly disturbing parts involving poacher and the like for your little people.
The picture book, "How it was with Dooms", about a little boy living in Africa and his pet cheetah, is fun. A true story. My kids love this one.
Kelly in FL
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Sharie
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| Posted: Sept 04 2006 at 2:05pm | IP Logged
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Kelly,
Thanks for these suggestions. I did searches on Amazon for them and found that "A Far Off Place" is a sequel to :A Story Like the Wind". Have you read this? The comments say that it is a wonderful story but bogs down a bit in the details about Africa.
We have "Born Free" on audio so will incorporate that.
Has anyone read "Cry, the Beloved Country"? It sounds like a moving book...just worried about anti-Catholic sentiment.
Blessings
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Kelly
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 2:14am | IP Logged
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I read "Story Like the Wind", too, but it was a while back---seem to recall liking it. I love reading about Africa, maybe that's why I don't remember it bogging down!
You know, the Tarzan series are great reads, too, though they're a little fantastical. Still, I loved reading those when I was young, and the vocabulary is very challenging. The first five or so are the best, IMHO.
"Cry the Beloved Country" is a very powerful book, with some brutal parts-I'd say this is for mature teens or adults. Our International Student that lives with us-from Africa-says that this book a must-read for every person.
Another couple of books I didn't mention, but think are great, are the books by Elspeth Huxley called "the Flame Trees of Thika" and "The Mottled Lizard"-about her life, as a girl, in early 20th century Africa. She writes marvelously-I love these books...BUT be warned there is a situation involving an affair between a couple of colonials that you would probably want your child-readers to avoid-if you read the book aloud, you could easily edit that part, I think. These books were also made into a tv series a long while ago, with Haley Mills playing the mother-my kids LOVED these films (and the affair part is really played down) There are also the old "Daktari" tv series films around, too, that your younger kids would probably enjoy.
Another book-probably more for you than kids, but actually, I think my dd 13 read it and liked it was "West with the Wind" (or was it "West with the Night"???hmmm) by Beryl Markham. If you ever saw the movie "Out of AFrica", the young girl neighbor who rides over on her horse was, in real life, Beryl Markham. I don't think her morals were any great wonder, but the book is very interesting.
"Cry of the Kalahari" is another fascinating book, by two Americans who lived in the Kalahari studying lions and hyenas. Very interesting book-we've all read it and liked it (for bigger readers). And James Michener's, "The Covenant" is very informative. I liked it, but it's long!
For younger children, there's also "Hippos in the Night" by Christina Allen", "Africa Trek: A Journey by Bicycle thru Africa" by Dan Buettner, and the cute little Pocket Worlds book, "Living in the HEart of AFrica" by Chantal Henry-Biabaud-it's a little dated, but good. Also, "Baby Animals of AFrica" is a very nice picture book with painted pics of various African wildlife along with some discussion.
In film, there is also "The African Queen" and "Zulu". I also saw the made for tv series "Shaka Zulu" years ago-but it might have been a little brutal-maybe someone else here can comment on that. "Breaker Morant" about the Boer War, is a superb movie-tho it's pretty nuanced and overly "talkie"-but older folk will probably like it. A different take on the British presence in Africa.
Don't forget Enchanted Learning has maps and info on many different African countries, as well as many cool AFrican animals. Also, if you wanted to pull in some art study, you might take a look at Andy Warhol's paintings of endangered animals. I'm not a big Warlhol fan, but I was surprised by how much I liked this series. Robert Bateman is another well-known wildlife artist. Also, the Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, has some beautiful paintings of African wildlife-I haven't checked their website, but I bet they'd have some good links.
Last but not least, if Mom wants some pretty chilling but exciting African reading, try "The Lions of Tsavo". It's along the lines of "Maneaters of Kumaon"-some pretty grisley parts-but very interesting. This is the book on which they based the Michael Douglass/Val Kilmer movie, "The Ghost and the Darkness" (not for kids!Scary movie!)
Kelly in FL
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Sharie
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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WOW Kelly! What a great resource you are!! I am going to print this out and stick it in my Africa file! Thank you so much for taking the time to post all this information.
Blessings,
Sharie in WY
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stacykay
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 3:12pm | IP Logged
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I don't have much to add, but when checking out the new unit studies thread, I found this site, with some neat ideas for the book "Lake of the Big Snake." There are some links within this site for other info.
We just covered Africa, last year. For my ages, I searched the library's computer for picture books, mostly.
I also had the boys pick out what countries they wanted to cover, and we went from there.
We spent some time contrasting the northern African countries and the southern ones. It really is interesting, but some books were not appropriate for my ages (2nd and 5th) last year.
Have fun!
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: read alouds set in Africa
