• A is for Ampe: An Alphabet Book from Ghana

    Age Range: 2 – 5 years

    Pre-school – Grade 1

    A is for Ampe: An Alphabet Book from Ghana is a must-add book for youngsters’ home libraries as well as a must-purchase by day cares, kindergartens, early years classrooms and the children’s section of public libraries.

    In this well-designed alphabet book, the entire alphabet, in upper case, runs across the top of each page which has the focused-upon letter being presented in bolded, larger print. At the bottom of the page, the upper case letter appears in one corner and the lower case in the other. In between is the very brief text which follows a simple, standard pattern, eg. “D is for drum” or “T is for twins.” The objects used to represent the letters can be found in Hildebrand’s and Knowles’ full colour photos which occupy most of each page. Children will encounter the familiar, such as “E is for eggs” and “U is for umbrella,” but, as the short title indicates, they will also meet many new words. Hopefully, those adults who will be sharing this book with pre-readers will have, themselves, first read the book so that they will have discovered at the book’s conclusion the “Glossary of Ghanaian Words” in which Knowles, in addition to providing, where needed, a pronunciation guide, has explained eight Ghanaian terms, including the title’s “Ampe [AHM-pay]: A challenging game, usually played by girls, which involves jumping and clapping. The leading player tries to beat her opponent by the tactical placement of her left or right foot.”

  • The Lion’s Whisper

    2018 CODE Burt Award for African Young Adult Literature Finalist

    Leo and David, both fifteen years old, are neighbours who are divided by more than just a wall. When David unexpectedly reaches out to him, Leo hesitantly accepts and David soon becomes a secret brother, helping Leo overcome a paralysing fear from his past.

    Leo embarks with David on a mission to root out the answer to a mystery that has tormented David for years. Their friendship is tested beyond the wire as bitterness and betrayal pitch their families, and ultimately the boys themselves, against each other.

    Then a bloody military coup rips Leo’s world apart and he has to find courage he never had before and an ally. But after all the years of bitterness, can Leo afford to forgive and trust his family’s enemy?

  • Ebony Girl

    2018 CODE Burt Award for African Young Adult Literature Finalist
    Sometimes, all you need to do is to face your fears with an ashen face and unblinking eyes.
    Not able to contain the tantrums thrown at her due to her ‘unusual’ skin colour, hair texture and height, Asabea’s parents do what they think is best for her — send her to a place where she will fit in. Asabea’s fury and sorrow deepens, not at those who taunt her but with her parents.
    Too angry to fight anymore, she finds solace in her grandmother and a sea of others who challenge her to defy her fears and see the world through a different lens.

    Ebony Girl

    45.00
  • Kofi and the Wedding Dress (The Adventures of Naughty Kofi #4)

    Age Range: 6 – 11 years

    Kofi Opoku is at it again! His mother has been asked to sew a wedding dress, for the daughter of one of the richest women in Botikrom. All seems well, until a dare almost ruins everything! Will Kofi be able to get away with it?

  • Grief Child

    Winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Africa

    It was midnight. The little village of Susa slept in darkness in the heart of the forest farms, among the tall trees. The mahoganies and sapeles stood tall in the dark sky, providing a canopy over the village and deepening the density of the pitch-dark night. From a distant cluster of neighboring villages, Adu heard a dog bark. Another dog howled. In this village midnight was a dangerous time. It was better not to be awake or hear noises….

    In this haunting tale the power of light struggles with the power of darkness to claim the life of Adu, the “grief child”.

    Grief Child

    40.00
  • Gizo-Gizo: A Tale from the Zongo Lagoon (Hardcover)

    Age Range: 5 – 12 years

    Gizo-Gizo! was awarded Best Book for young people in the 25th Children’s Africana Book Awards.

    In Hausa culture, you always begin telling a story in the same way: The storyteller says, “Ga ta nan ga ta nanku!” “I am about to begin!” And the children respond, “Tazo Mujita!” “We are all ears!”

    Using story as the primary learning, teaching and engagement tool, the Zongo Story Project strives to elevate proficiencies in oral, written, and visual forms of literacy; promote the knowledge building of local history, local culture and local contemporary concerns; and lay the crucial foundation for the acquisition of vital twenty-first century critical thinking skills. The conceptual framework for this project originated out of a larger, community-based initiative called the Zongo Water Project, whose mission is to use water as a way to improve the quality of life for the Zongo.

    Working closely with local teachers, Emily Williamson carried out a series of educational workshops at the Hassaniyya Quranic School in the summers of 2012, 2013, and 2014 to teach students about local water and environmental concerns. Employing the story as the foundational element, Emily engaged students in dialogue, shared readings, performances, writing exercises, and visual art, culminating in community drama performances and original folktales.

    The illustrations and text of this book grew directly out of the work produced in these workshops.

  • Amu the African: A Study in Vision and Courage

    This book is an account of the life and work of Dr. Ephraim Amu, the renowned Ghanaian educationist and reformist — a great creative musician of world rank whose contributions are a cultural heritage for the world. It gives the story of Amu’s life and the contribution he has made to the development of the Church, Education, Morality, the Youth, Agriculture, Nutrition, Ghanaian Cultural Nationalism and, especially, the evolution of Ghanaian music.

    Not since Dr Kwegyir Aggrey has any other Ghanaian influenced more positively the development of Ghanaian culture and pride in the African Personality than Dr Ephraim Amu.

  • The Gonjon Pin and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2014

    The Caine Prize for African Writing 2014 brings together the five shortlisted authors’ stories along with 12 other stories from the best new writers. Insightful, arresting and entertaining – this collection reflects the richness and range of current African writing.

    Caine Prize 2014 Shortlisted Stories:
    Phosphorescence Diane Awerbuck (South Africa)
    Chicken Efemia Chela (Ghana/Zambia)
    The Intervention Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwe)
    The Gorilla’s Apprentice Billy Kahora (Kenya)
    My Father’s Head Okwiri Oduor (Nigeria)

    The Caine Prize African Writers’ Workshop Stories 2014:
    The Lifebloom Gift Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya)
    The Gonjon Pin Martin Egblewogbe (Ghana)
    As A Wolf Sweating Your Mother’s Body Clifton Gachagua (Kenya)
    Pam Pam Lawrence Hoba (Zimbabwe)
    Lily in the Moonlight Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria)
    Running Elnathan John (Nigeria)
    The Murder of Ernestine Masilo Violet Masilo (Zimbabwe)
    All the Parts of Mi Isabella Matambanadzo (Zimbabwe)
    Blood Work Barbara Mhangami-Ruwende (Zimbabwe)
    The Sonneteer Philani A Nyoni (Zimbabwe)
    Eko Hotel Chinelo Okparanta (Nigeria)
    Music from a Farther Room Bryony Rheam (Zimbabwe)
  • The Hundred Wells of Salaga

    Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that turns her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the willful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father’s court. These two women’s lives converge as infighting among Wurche’s people threatens the region, during the height of the slave trade at the end of the 19th century.

    Set in pre-colonial Ghana, The Hundred Wells of Salaga is a story of courage, forgiveness, love and freedom. Through the experiences of Aminah and Wurche, it offers a remarkable view of slavery and how the scramble for Africa affected the lives of everyday people.

  • Between Sisters

    When sixteen-year-old Gloria fails thirteen out of fifteen subjects on her final exams, her future looks bleak indeed. Her family’s resources are meager so the entire family is thrilled when a distant relative, Christine, offers to move Gloria north to Kumasi to look after her toddler son, Sam. In exchange, after two years, Christine will pay for Gloria to go to dressmaking school.

    Life in Kumasi is more grand than anything Gloria has ever experienced. She joins a youth band at church — something that allows her to pursue her great love, singing — and Christine has even promised to teach her to read.

    But Kumasi is also full of temptations — the owner of a popular clothing shop encourages her to buy clothes on credit, and the smooth-talking Dr. Kusi offers Gloria rides in his red sports car. Eventually Gloria is betrayed by the people around her and is disillusioned by her new life. But in the end she decides who she can trust, and draws her own considerable inner resources to put the bad experiences behind her.

    Between Sisters

    28.00
  • Gathering Seaweed: African Prison Writing (African Writers Series)

    This anthology introduces the African literature of incarceration to the general reader, the scholar, the activist and the student. The visions and prison cries of the few African nationalists imprisoned by colonialists, who later became leaders of their independent dictatorships and in turn imprisoned their own writers and other radicals, are brought into sharper focus, thereby critically exposing the ironies of varied generations of the efforts of freedom fighters.

    Extracts of prose, poetry and plays are grouped into themes such as arrest, interrogation, torture, survival, release and truth and reconciliation.

    Contributors include: Kunle Ajibade, Obafemi Awolowo, Steve Biko, Breyten Breytenbach, Dennis Brutus, Nawal El Saadawi, M J Kariuki, Kenneth Kaunda, Caesarina Kona Makhoere, Nelson Mandela, Emma Mashinini, Felix Mnthali, Augustino Nato, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kwame Nkrumah, Abe Sachs, Ken Saro Wiwa, Wole Soyinka, and Koigi wa Wamwere.

    Although an often harrowing indictment of the history, culture and politics of the African continent and the societies from which this literature comes, the anthology presents excellent prose, poetry and drama, which stands up in its own right as serious literature to be cherished, read and studied.

  • The Trouble with Nigeria (African Writers Series)

    The eminent African novelist and critic, here addresses Nigeria’s problems, aiming to challenge the resignation of Nigerians and inspire them to reject old habits which inhibit Nigeria from becoming a modern and attractive country. In this famous book now reprinted, he professes that the only trouble with Nigeria is the failure of leadership, because with good leaders Nigeria could resolve its inherent problems such as tribalism; lack of patriotism; social injustice and the cult of mediocrity; indiscipline; and corruption.

  • The Hard Decision

    *Available from 25 March 2022
    After waiting for many years, Papa Koto and Mma Asibi finally have a child. They are determined to make him a more useful person. How they choose to do it may make them end up stepping on toes. Will they go ahead with their plans?

    “A delicious read, a read-worthy first book, The Hard Decision by Jean-Philip Lawson is yet another evidence of the rejuvenation of literature in our homeland.” Nana Awere Damoah, Author & Engineer

  • Abrokyire Nkomo

    For many Africans, the dream of travelling to Europe or America represents a burning lifetime ambition that they would do anything (well, almost) to achieve. So what is it really like out there? What is the story behind the rosy images of the west that are beamed to Africa on television, in movies and in the glossy magazines? What is the reality behind the grim stories we hear at times from our friends and relatives abroad? Just how hard, or easy, is it out there? This book is a collection of a number of articles written by the author and seeks to address these issues. Written in a conversational style, it is an attempt to provide an interesting, witty, yet serious insight into the good, the bad and the ugly sides of life abroad, and raises several issues that should engage the attention of the contemporary African whether at home or abroad.

    Abrokyire Nkomo

    110.00
  • Ghana Praise: Tunes from Ghana, Africa and the World

    African churches have inherited a rich tradition of hymnody from the West, but for too long the musical heritage of Asia and even of Africa itself has been neglected. Ghana Praise is a first step towards correcting this situation.

    It contains 144 tunes by Ghanaian composers: 4 songs from Northern Ghana and 28 spirituals from Ghana’s Pentecostal churches. For the first time, the wealth of music by present and past generations of Ghanaian musicians is available in print for all to use; the geographical and denominational barriers which have discouraged the spread of hymn tunes in the past are breaking down.

    In addition, Ghana Praise brings you 19 tunes from the rest of Africa and 33 from other parts of the world.

    Ghana Praise is accompanied by a words book, Asempa Hymns, which contains words to fit the new tunes, as well as a selection of the most well-known Western hymns.

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