When Africa Was Home (Orchard Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Karen Lynn Williams (Author), Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1994 | Age Level: 4 and up | Series: Orchard Paperbacks

"The small white child in this picture book feels alien when his family returns to America. He can't wait to go back to the warm African village where he ran free with his friends under a wide sky. . . . The joyful text and Cooper's boldly drawn, glowing oil-wash pictures evoke the intensely physical experience of a small child . . ."--Booklist, starred review. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Luminous artwork and a lyrical, informative text introduce Peter, an American boy who lives with his parents in an African village. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-- Peter, a white American, is entirely at home in a Malawian village. He slides down anthills in the hot sun, chews sugarcane with his friend Yekha, and runs with the goats. When he has to go to America with his parents, he feels displaced, and waits patiently until their joyful return to the village, where he is once again at home. Williams evokes Africa as the ultimate playground, a place of warmth, belonging, and freedom. Cooper's luminous paintings in oranges, yellows, greens, and blues contribute to this image, as they show Peter and Yekha playing against a background of shimmering heat. The warmth of that country is contrasted starkly with the cold of winter in America. Peter's story tends to lose its flow in the descriptions of daily life. However, continuity is provided by frequent use of the phrase, "when Africa was home," and by the use of Chichewa words followed by their English equivalent. Cooper's portrayal of people varies: his profiles of faces are usually more successful than his frontal views. Peter's face changes from page to page, and so does his apparent age. Also, although the use of Chichewa places the book in Malawi, some characters appear West African in their style of dress. The book is successful as a read-aloud, but the print is also large enough for independent reading. It will be most useful to those looking for material for multicultural units. --Susan Giffard, Englewood Public Library, NJ
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531070433
• ISBN-13: 978-0531070437
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #225,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most wonderful children's book about Africa I have found, August 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: When Africa Was Home (Orchard Paperbacks) (Paperback)

My daughter and I were simply delighted with this book, and we are voracious readers of tales from foreign lands. For the protagonist, a little American boy born in Africa, Africa is not another place, a foreign country, but the home that he knows and loves, described poignantly through the eyes of a child. It is the USA that is foreign and strange to him, although he acclimates with a sort of resigned acceptance. I won't spoil it by telling the end; I can only say that I hope you and your children enjoy it as much as we did.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Africa Was Home, February 23, 2004

By 

Richard Bowen "Eclectic Reader" (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Africa Was Home (Orchard Paperbacks) (Paperback)

My parents gave me this book for Christmas a few years ago, and, although I am a grown man, and I left Africa 15 years ago now, this book makes me cry, and want to return home. Like Peter, I'm a white African, although I'm a Kenyan. I miss Kenya, and even if I never get a chance to return, it will always be Home.

This book is a great gift for "third culture" kids, as well as for those trying to understand what it's like for kids to leave home and move far away.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, June 18, 2006

By 

Edivorp Rouylael "7thgradeteacher" - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Africa Was Home (Orchard Paperbacks) (Paperback)

I was given this book as a graduation present when I left Malawi, the setting of the book, to come to university in America. I adore this book. The illustrations are incredibly beautiful pastels. The colors are fantastic and the people have wonderfully expressive faces. The story is sweet. I can identify with the main character because of my upbringing as a white child in Southern Africa. However, I think that the experience of moving away from home and being homesick is a universal one. For any child, being taken from a familiar to a strange situation is difficult. The only drawback the story might have in that sense is that the main character is able to return to Malawi at the end of the story. While that is hopeful, there are children who will not be able to return to their former homes or lives. For those children, this could be a hard book.

There are several examples of Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, in the book. All of the words are used accurately. The Chichewa words are not difficult for a parent or teacher reading the book as all of the words are pronounced phonetically.