Black History Month is rolling to a close, but it’s never to late to share new learning resources with your kids. Along with some great books, movies and music picks that honor African American culture and history, I have recently come upon some more terrific books and media that help expose kids of any skin color to the diversity and wonder of the continent of Africa. –Christina
We have long owned a copy of the African folk tale
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears in our home, but I love hearing James Earl Jones narrating it on the
Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD version.
Like many folk tales, there is some sadness in this story, though it is still appropriate for young grade-schoolers. And with the read-along function, this DVD is a great way for early readers to get a little practice during movie time. Also included on this DVD are four other stories, including the touching South African story Not So Fast Songololo, and the interesting West African tale The Village of Round and Square Houses.
Putumayo Kids has long been one of my favorite sources for global music, and their new
Africa Coloring Book takes the playfulness and fun of their music and puts it into oversized illustrations of Africa’s animals, people, instruments and even a big baobab tree. The large pictures are perfect for little hands to color, and my kids would love the page with ceremonial masks, along with a free page on which to design their own. I also like the labeled map of Africa which gives my kids a chance to learn where its many countries are located.
Barefoot Books’ Monster Stories series for early readers includes
The Mother of Monsters, a story from South Africa. I love the spunky and fearless heroine Ntombi, though I also appreciate that she learns an important lesson in being so bold. The text has some tricky words, so this is a good one to read together. And though this is a monster story, the illustrations are so fun that it shouldn’t bother anyone to hear at bedtime.
As a companion to Barefoot Books’ story, I’d love to grab
The Girl Who Loved Danger play set by Guidecraft. With the hand puppet and little hand-painted resin figurines, my kids would have a blast acting out various scenes, either from an actually African folk tale, or a story of their own making. (Currently available for preorder)
This CD is packaged beautifully in a hardcover book with gorgeous illustrations and translations. The lyrics vary from sweet declarations of a mother’s love for her child, to more harsh realities, such as growing up as an orphan, but the music itself is consistently soothing for little babes. I love that the CD sounds totally different from anything I already own, and yet conveys perfectly the universal desire for our babies to just—please—go to sleep without crying.
Keep history alive by telling that history:
Read the greatest ‘historical novel’, Rescue at Pine Ridge, the first generation of Buffalo Soldiers. The website is: https://www.rescueatpineridge.com This is the greatest story of Black Military History…5 stars Amazon Internationally, and Barnes & Noble. Youtube commercials are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD66NUKmZPs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVslyHmDy9A&feature=related
Rescue at Pine Ridge is the story of the rescue of the famed 7th Cavalry by the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers. The 7th Cavalry was entrapped again after the Little Big Horn Massacre, fourteen years later, the day after the Wounded Knee Massacre. If it wasn’t for the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers, there would of been a second massacre of the 7th Cavalry. This story is about, brutality, compassion, reprisal, bravery, heroism, redemption and gallantry.
You’ll enjoy the novel that embodies the Native Americans, Outlaws and African-American/Black soldiers, from the south to the north, in the days of the Native American Wars with the approaching United States of America.
The novel was taken from my mini-series movie with the same title, “RaPR” to keep the story alive. The movie so far has the interest of, Mr. Bill Duke, Hill Harper, Glynn Turman, James Whitmore Jr., Reginald T. Dorsey and a host of other major actors in which we are in talks with, in starring in this epic American story.
When you get a chance, also please visit our Alpha Wolf Production website at; https://www.alphawolfprods.com and see our other productions, like Stagecoach Mary, the first Black Woman to deliver mail for the US Postal System in Montana, in the 1890’s, “spread the word”.
Peace.