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A Gift from Childhood: Memories of an African Boyhood
CCBC Review:
Author/artist Baba Wagué Diakité’s vivid account of his childhood in a small village in Mali, West Africa, is defined by stories and storytelling, and full of affection and humor. Diakité describes life with his grandparents and extended family members and his childhood escapades, weaving in family stories and tales he grew up hearing. These, along with the rhythm and responsibilities of life within the community, ground him in family and tradition and values. Diakité had a particularly close relationship with his grandmother, and with his mother, who lived in the city but came to visit him and participate in important events, and the strength of those relationships and the gifts of his early childhood are evident throughout a narrative that also describes how he became an artist and storyteller and eventually moved to the United States. He and his family return often to the people and places of his childhood—the roots that continue to nourish him. The occasional illustrations in this memoir are hand-painted tiles in Diakité’s distinctive style. Most of them are beautifully composed scenes of village life, glazed in rich colors and full of warmth and occasional whimsy. ©2010 Cooperative Children's Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 11-15
Age Range:
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Formats:
Biography, Autobiography and Memoir
Substantial Narrative Non-Fiction
Subjects:
Art and Artists
Autobiography/Memoir
Families
Grandmothers
Humor
Malians and Malian Americans
Mothers
Responsibility
Stories and Storytelling
Diversity subject:
Black/African
Publishers:
Groundwood, House of Anansi
Publish Year: 2010
Pages: 134
ISBN: 9780888999313
CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 920 Diakite