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Resources and strategies for challenging stereotypes and teaching about African countries

An excellent reading for teachers and parents to discuss is I Didn't Know There Were Cities in Africa! (Teaching Tolerance, Fall 2008). Submitted by Teaching for Change, this article critiques the stereotypes in popular children's books and films, helps educators reflect on their own classroom, and provides a list of recommended titles.

Organizations and Articles

Africa Access: Literature recommendations, student research projects, and a detailed database with critiques of hundreds of children's books and texts on Africa. Coordinates the annual Children’s Africana Book Award.

African Studies K-12 Outreach Programs: University based programs which provide resources and professional development for teachers.

H-AfrTeach: A discussion list which provides a forum on teaching about Africa at all educational levels.

Masifunde Sonke Book Project: An education initiative of South Africa Partners promotes children’s literature from the new South Africa. For each book purchased in the United States, South Africa Partners donates a second copy of the same book to a rural or township school in South Africa.

What Do We Want Children to Learn About Africa? This short article by Margy Burns Knight shares disturbing examples of how contemporary resources for children, including a National Geographic classroom poster, exotify Africans. The article includes the outline for a professional development activity.

Resources and strategies for challenging stereotypes and teaching about African countries

Elementary

Africa Is Not a Country*

By Margy Burns Knight, Jim Knight, Anne Sibley O'Brien (Illustrator)

By Obi Onyefulu

By Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, Aaron Boyd

The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa*

By Cristina Kessler

By Sylviane A. Diouf, Shane W. Evans (Illustrator)

By Mary Hoffman, Caroline Binch (Illustrator)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind*

By William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer, Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator)

Bundle of Secrets: Savita Returns Home

By Dr Mubina Hassanali Kirmani

By Elinor Batezat Sisulu, Sharon Wilson (Illustrator)

By Desmond Tutu, A. G. Ford (Illustrator)

By Karen Lynn Williams, Catherine Stock (Illustrator)

By Ifeoma Onyefulu

By Susan L. Roth, Karen Leggett Abouraya

By Kathryn Erskine, Charly Palmer (Illustrator)

By Eric Walters, Eva Campbell (Illustrator)

By Karen Lynn Williams, Khadra Mohammed, Catherine Stock (Illustrator)

By Tololwa M. Mollel

Abridged By Chris Van Wyk, Paddy Bouma (Illustrator)

By Miranda Paul

By Marilyn Nelson, Artists of the Kuru Art Project in Botsw (Illustrator)

By Beverley Naidoo, Prodeepta Das (Illustrator)

By Jen Johnson, Sonia Sadler (Illustrator)

By Franck Pravot

When I Get Older: The Story Behind "Wavin' Flag"*

By K'Naan with Sol Guy, Rudy Gutierrez (Illustrator)

Middle

By Monica Edinger, Robert Byrd (Illustrator)

By Adwoa Badoe

By Ann Cameron

By Meja Mwangi

By Anna Cottrell, Agbotadua Togbi Kumassah

By Beverley Naidoo

By Andrea Davis Pinkney

By D T Niane

By Janice Warman

Young Adult

By Trevor R. Getz, Liz Clarke

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

By Elizabeth Stewart, Martha Newbigging (Illustrator)

By Beverley Naidoo

By Na'ima B. Robert

By Taiye Selasi

By Kwei Quartey

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

By Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess

By Sindiwe Magona

By Wangari Muta Maathai

By Simi Bedford

By J. Nozipo Maraire

Educators

By Linda M. Heywood (Editor), Jan Vansina (Foreword by)

By Claudia Zaslavsky

By Curtis A. Keim

Organizations and Articles