Book Review: Africa, Amazing Africa, by Atinuke

Anyone who has visited my blog before will know I am a big fan of books about Africa. And I am a really big fan of books for children about Africa. And I am an even bigger fan of books about Africa that help to dispel the media and education- perpetuated misconception that Africa is a simply a place full of mud huts and poverty in desperate need of Western aid. This beautiful children's book ticks all those boxes, and some! I can't recommend it enough.
It is a book for young children (5-8 years) and has a simple format - 1 page of information about every country on the African continent. The Nigerian born author has found a unique interesting fact about each country and writes a short paragraph for each one, showcasing the diversity of the continent. While she does talk about poverty she also makes sure to point out that much of Africa is modern, dynamic, urban and forward thinking.
The illustrations by Mouni Feddag are gorgeous and there are fantastic maps to refer to as you read. My daughters aged 4 and 7 love this book. We read about one country each night at bedtime, and they have enjoyed searching for the countries on the map. Both girls have also taken this book into school, eager to share with the class the information about the country where they used to live.
This is a really great book -beautiful to look at and very informative.

Book Review: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Mercies is Kiran Millwood Hargrave's first novel written for adults, after several successful YA and children's novels.

The Mercies is set in northern Norway in the seventeenth century, beginning with a terrifying storm (a real event that occurred on 24th December 1617) that kills very nearly the entire male population of the island of Vardo. The women left behind must fend for themselves in the harsh landscape north of the arctic circle. Eighteen months later a new commissioner arrives, summoned from Scotland to impose civilisation and order in this remote place. He brings with him his new wife, Ursa, a cossetted city girl from Bergen, who quickly befriends local girl, Maren.

The developing friendship between Maren and Ursa is one focal point of the novel and the reader comes to care deeply for the fate of these 2 young women, a fate which is bound together ever tighter as the novel progresses. At the same time, the real purpose of the commissioner's posting becomes clearer - to enforce sorcery laws brought in by the King to unify Norway in the Lutheran Church - and a literal witch hunt ensues. 

This book is by turns tender and terrifying. The setting is hauntingly evoked - I am always amazed at the power of books to transport readers to  a time and place so completely alien to their own experience and this book does that wonderfully - and the characters are incredibly real. It is atmospheric and builds to a dramatic and brutal conclusion. I flew through the final third of the book  desperate to know the outcome. It is made all the more chilling knowing that the novel is based on real events. There were witch trials throughout the Finnmark region in 1621 that resulted in the deaths of 91 people. I love fiction that builds on real events and this affecting novel left me thinking about the fate of the real people at the heart of it and inspired me to find out more about the history of witch trials in the seventeenth century.

Read this book and be thankful that your daughters are free to be strong independent women without fear of persecution.