Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions

Rating:
Summary: A gorgeous tribute to African culture for children
Review: "Ashanti to Zulu" presents 26 African tribes, from A to Z, and lets children learn something about the culture and customs of each one. Aside from being a learning experience, the book is visually eye-popping; the illustrations are so gorgeous you'll want to blow them up and frame them. The book won a well-deserved Caldecott Medal for the best illustrated children's book of 1977. It's a great book for helping children to learn about some of the peoples of our least-known populated continent, and the pictures will hold the kids mesmerized. It's a volume that belongs on every youngsters bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: A gorgeous tribute to African culture for children
Review: "Ashanti to Zulu" presents 26 African tribes, from A to Z, and lets children learn something about the culture and customs of each one. Aside from being a learning experience, the book is visually eye-popping; the illustrations are so gorgeous you'll want to blow them up and frame them. The book won a well-deserved Caldecott Medal for the best illustrated children's book of 1977. It's a great book for helping children to learn about some of the peoples of our least-known populated continent, and the pictures will hold the kids mesmerized. It's a volume that belongs on every youngsters bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: The alphabet at its best
Review: Ho hum, thought I when I first saw this book. Yet another African alphabet book. It wasn't too long ago that I read, "Jambo Means Hello", the Swahili alphabet book by Muriel Feelings that was published in 1974. That book was okay, but I was disappointed that it didn't distinguish between tribes or acknowledge the advance of technology in Africa in the 1970s. Then I picked up this 1976 Caldecott winning book and upon reading it I was stunned. This book is everything that "Jambo Mean Hello" SHOULD have been. With meticulously researched information, delicate details, and stunning illustrations this book deserves to be read to every single child in elementary school for as long as there are either children or schools.

The book goes through the alphabet by naming a different tribe for each letter. First of all, I was surprised that there actually was an African tribe for every letter in the alphabet. Shows what I know. As we view each tribe we get a stunning illustration of their clothing, towns or villages, and activities. Author Margaret Musgrove describes their life, picking out the most interesting details for each. Through this method we learn that in Baule legend the crocodiles aided them when they were at war with the Ashanti. Or we find out that in the Tuareg tribe the men are veiled and the women do most of the talking, storytelling, and poetry. From A to Z we see a wide spectrum of African inhabitants, ending with a map of Africa that shows where each tribe resides.

But it doesn't stop there. Feelings explains in her Author's Note in the front that modern technology is changing the face of African life, though she contends that the traditions pictured in this book are still being passed on from generation to generation. She points out that some customs mentioned here are unique and relate only to that particular tribe while other values and philosophies are shared by all. She is even so careful as to point out that many (not all) African language prefixes are added to denote the plural. She, however, has used the root words throughout the book for simplicity's sake. Should you have any doubts about the background of this author, you can read in a tiny note on the publication page that she lived and studied in Ghana for years and a list of publications consulted is included. And if you've any doubts about the illustrations, don't. As noted, even the interwoven designs at the corners of the pages are based on Kano Knots. Every article of clothing, every animal, every home depicted here is accurate and beautiful.

I don't mean to pooh-pooh "Jambo Means Hello", but that book hasn't got anything on the amazing "Ashanti to Zulu". It's stunning.

Rating:
Summary: The alphabet at its best
Review: Ho hum, thought I when I first saw this book. Yet another African alphabet book. It wasn't too long ago that I read, "Jambo Means Hello", the Swahili alphabet book by Muriel Feelings that was published in 1974. That book was okay, but I was disappointed that it didn't distinguish between tribes or acknowledge the advance of technology in Africa in the 1970s. Then I picked up this 1976 Caldecott winning book and upon reading it I was stunned. This book is everything that "Jambo Mean Hello" SHOULD have been. With meticulously researched information, delicate details, and stunning illustrations this book deserves to be read to every single child in elementary school for as long as there are either children or schools.

The book goes through the alphabet by naming a different tribe for each letter. First of all, I was surprised that there actually was an African tribe for every letter in the alphabet. Shows what I know. As we view each tribe we get a stunning illustration of their clothing, towns or villages, and activities. Author Margaret Musgrove describes their life, picking out the most interesting details for each. Through this method we learn that in Baule legend the crocodiles aided them when they were at war with the Ashanti. Or we find out that in the Tuareg tribe the men are veiled and the women do most of the talking, storytelling, and poetry. From A to Z we see a wide spectrum of African inhabitants, ending with a map of Africa that shows where each tribe resides.

But it doesn't stop there. Feelings explains in her Author's Note in the front that modern technology is changing the face of African life, though she contends that the traditions pictured in this book are still being passed on from generation to generation. She points out that some customs mentioned here are unique and relate only to that particular tribe while other values and philosophies are shared by all. She is even so careful as to point out that many (not all) African language prefixes are added to denote the plural. She, however, has used the root words throughout the book for simplicity's sake. Should you have any doubts about the background of this author, you can read in a tiny note on the publication page that she lived and studied in Ghana for years and a list of publications consulted is included. And if you've any doubts about the illustrations, don't. As noted, even the interwoven designs at the corners of the pages are based on Kano Knots. Every article of clothing, every animal, every home depicted here is accurate and beautiful.

I don't mean to pooh-pooh "Jambo Means Hello", but that book hasn't got anything on the amazing "Ashanti to Zulu". It's stunning.

Rating:
Summary: African Culture from A to Z with exquisite artwork
Review: I have long been an admirer of the artwork of Leo and Diane Dillon, who did a lot of covers for the works of Harlan Ellison. So it is because of the Dillons that I picked up this alphabet book in which Margaret Musgrove introduces young readers to twenty-six African peoples by depicting a custom important to each. While some of the customs are unique to a particular people, others are shared throughout the continent, but Musgrove assures her readers that all of these customs reflect African values or philosophies. From the Ashanti weavers who make a beautiful cloth called "kente" to the leaping Zulu dancers saluting their new chief, we learn about these customs. Each entry is accompanied by a gorgeous illustration by the Dillons, who show as much concern for detail and accuracy as the author. Musgrove lived in studied in Ghana where she did extensive research for this volume. For their part the Dillons did considerable further research as well. One of most interesting aspects about their pictures for this book is that most of the paintings include a man, woman, child, their living quarters, an artifact and a local animal. While there is admittedly a degree of artificiality to some of these compositions, there is obviously a concerted effort to provide as much detail in the illustrations as possible. No wonder I have been a big fan of the Dillon's work for thirty years. A map in the back of the volume shows where each of these peoples lives in Africa, which shows that the focus here is on the sub-Sahara peoples rather than the Arab influenced Northern Africa. I can easily see a grade school class studying Africa looking at a couple of pages each day to get a unique sense of the peoples of Africa. Certainly each page could work as a poster; something for teachers to think about when they are planning their unit on Africa.

Rating:
Summary: African Culture from A to Z with exquisite artwork
Review: I have long been an admirer of the artwork of Leo and Diane Dillon, who did a lot of covers for the works of Harlan Ellison. So it is because of the Dillons that I picked up this alphabet book in which Margaret Musgrove introduces young readers to twenty-six African peoples by depicting a custom important to each. While some of the customs are unique to a particular people, others are shared throughout the continent, but Musgrove assures her readers that all of these customs reflect African values or philosophies. From the Ashanti weavers who make a beautiful cloth called "kente" to the leaping Zulu dancers saluting their new chief, we learn about these customs. Each entry is accompanied by a gorgeous illustration by the Dillons, who show as much concern for detail and accuracy as the author. Musgrove lived in studied in Ghana where she did extensive research for this volume. For their part the Dillons did considerable further research as well. One of most interesting aspects about their pictures for this book is that most of the paintings include a man, woman, child, their living quarters, an artifact and a local animal. While there is admittedly a degree of artificiality to some of these compositions, there is obviously a concerted effort to provide as much detail in the illustrations as possible. No wonder I have been a big fan of the Dillon's work for thirty years. A map in the back of the volume shows where each of these peoples lives in Africa, which shows that the focus here is on the sub-Sahara peoples rather than the Arab influenced Northern Africa. I can easily see a grade school class studying Africa looking at a couple of pages each day to get a unique sense of the peoples of Africa. Certainly each page could work as a poster; something for teachers to think about when they are planning their unit on Africa.