• Babingo: The Nobel Rebel

    In Pointe-Noire of the 1950’s lived Paul Makouta, a “civilized” and westernized native who was very proud of communicating exclusively in French with Madeleine Mamatouka, his wife, Alex his only son, and the other children of his household. Under no circumstance did Makouta allow the members of his family speak the language of Metropolitan France with the slightest trace of a Bantu accent. Again, anyone who dared speak Kituba, an indigenous language, with the family’s domestic staff was liable to severe reprimand.

    Clearly, the father’s intransigence was at odds with the communicative practices in the neighborhood and of children commuting daily to school. And it was only natural for Tessa, a fellow pupil from the neighborhood, to successfully convince her teenage friend, Alex Babingo, of the absurdity of Makouta’s directive. Little did Alex Babingo realize that his initial acceptance of the irrationality of the father’s prohibition in colonized Congo was only the start of a trajectory which, from the other side of the world, would impel his return to the very roots of his culture and ancestral traditions in the now independent Republic of Congo or Congo-Brazzaville. Babingo, the Noble Rebel is a poignant and pulsating advocacy for the mainstreaming of indigenous languages into the curriculum of African countries, not least those belonging to the French-speaking world.

  • Essential Mathematics Learner’s Book 3

    Essential Mathematics Primary 3 is written to meet the full requirements of the current New Standards-based curriculum by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) with a problem-solving and discovery approach to the learning of Mathematics.

    Each lesson is based on a ‘Big Idea’, providing an engaging, exciting theme which is endorsed in a real-life context.

    The series is designed to ensure that the core values (core competencies) that epitomise the Standards-based curriculum are imbued in learners.

    All the indicators have been covered sequentially.

    Each learner’s Book comes with a FREE digital edition of the book. The code for the digital edition appears on the inside front cover of the book and provides access for one year.

  • Essential Mathematics Learner’s Book 2

    Essential Mathematics Primary 2 is written to meet the full requirements of the current New Standards-based curriculum by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) with a problem-solving and discovery approach to the learning of Mathematics.

    Each lesson is based on a ‘Big Idea’, providing an engaging, exciting theme which is endorsed in a real-life context.

    The series is designed to ensure that the core values (core competencies) that epitomise the Standards-based curriculum are imbued in learners.

    All the indicators have been covered sequentially.

    Each learner’s Book comes with a FREE digital edition of the book. The code for the digital edition appears on the inside front cover of the book and provides access for one year.

  • Essential Mathematics Learner’s Book 1

    Essential Mathematics Primary 2 is written to meet the full requirements of the current New Standards-based curriculum by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) with a problem-solving and discovery approach to the learning of Mathematics.

    Each lesson is based on a ‘Big Idea’, providing an engaging, exciting theme which is endorsed in a real-life context.

    The series is designed to ensure that the core values (core competencies) that epitomise the Standards-based curriculum are imbued in learners.

    All the indicators have been covered sequentially.

    Each learner’s Book comes with a FREE digital edition of the book. The code for the digital edition appears on the inside front cover of the book and provides access for one year.

  • Gbesela Yeye or English-Ewe Dictionary

    The first Gbesela was published in 1910; the second, which was a reprint of the first without any alterations, in 1922. The present edition (1930) is a completely new book and is more than double the size of its predecessors.

    The Gbesela Yeye or New Interpreter is intended to serve both Europeans and Africans, and this purpose has governed its composition and arrangement. The Ewe reader will expect to learn from it the Ewe equivalent for an English word which he may come across in his English reading. or in conversation. In consequence the Dictionary should contain not only the English rendering of Ewe words, but should also try to explain at least the more important of such English words for which the Ewe language has not yet developed a precise expression, and for which circumlocution or approximation is necessary. The enormous difference in the development of the two languages makes it necessary very often to use in Ewe the same word or phrase for a considerable number of English expressions with their numerous fine shades in meaning, although, in justice to Ewe, it must be admitted that in certain respects the valent. Ewe language abounds in expressions for which English is hardly rich enough to offer an equivalent.

    For anyone who wants to acquire the language, the marking of tones is indispensable, as every one will be aware who has ever seriously tried to approach the language. In a Dictionary, where the words stand isolated, even the Ewe Reader will in many cases not be able to find out which word is intended, if the tones are unmarked.

    In books for native speakers of the language, however, that is to say in the national literature, very few tone marks are required, because the context explains what is intended to say. Both non-Ewe and Ewe speakers will find the arrangement helpful by which short phrases or sentences have been added to many words, showing how they are used. This is particularly desirable and almost indispensable in the mutual interpretation of two languages which differ so widely as Ewe and English. The Ewe word in isolation in very many cases conveys practically no meaning to the non-Ewe speaker, unless its construction and application are shown in examples.

  • More About Boy (Roald Dahl)

    Age Range: 7 – 11  years

    “A true genius . . . Roald Dahl is my hero” David Walliams

    MORE ABOUT BOY contains a wealth of new photos, facts and writings about Roald Dahl and his childhood, together with the original text and illustrations from his much-loved memoir.

    As a boy, all sorts of unusual things happened to Roald Dahl.

    There was the time he and four school friends got their revenge on beastly Mrs Prachett in her sweet shop.

    There are stories of holidays in fishing boats, African adventures and the days of tasting chocolate for Cadbury’s.

    You’ll hear tales of horrible school bullies and the car accident when Roald’s nose was nearly sliced clean off . . Now you can discover even more about Roald Dahl’s childhood, including some secrets he left out. Some are painful, some are funny, but all of them are TRUE.

  • The Blue Marble (Hardcover)

    Age Range: 9 – 15 years

    Published in association with UNESCO, this originally illustrated book is the result of the first in a planned series of workshops convened by UNESCO for authors, illustrators and publishers of children’s books in African and Arabic countries. The idea of the workshops is to produce children’s books that deal with the UNESCO themes of tolerance, cultural diversity, understanding between peoples, and peace. The story, The Blue Marble, was selected for publication by the participants of the workshop held in Namibia, and collectively illustrated under the guidance of the prize-winning children’s book author and illustrator, Meshack Asare.

    The narrative tells of three young sisters, Nafula, Ajambo and Samanya whose mother has died and father been made unemployed. The girls battle through life together hawking freshly made pancakes, in an effort to raise money to pay their school fees. They live in fear of their father wanting to get married again – to a woman: who subsequently becomes their dreaded stepmother figure. Then one of the girls, Ajambo, finds a lucky marble, and things slowly begin to look up for them.

  • The Canoe’s Story (Hardcover)

    Age Range: 6 – 12 years

    “But I did not have time yet to stare and wonder. The men wrestled me out of the machine and pushed and towed me across the sand to the shade of coconut palms. The moment I touched the ground, I heard a chorus of voices saying, ‘Akwaaba. Welcome to the coast!’ It was from the group of canoes and I was rather surprised that they spoke my language. But needed not be surprised. I had forgotten that they all came from the same forest in the hitherland where I too had come from.”

    Written by Ghanaian author Meshack Asare, The Canoe’s Story is a children’s book about a tree’s journey from the forest to becoming a canoe sailing the ocean. Told from the tree’s perspective, this richly illustrated story, portrays the strong ties between man and nature.

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