Existing Children's Picture Books

I decided to look at existing children's picture books that are set in Africa, to see how others have captured the african culture.

(photo credit: Gavin Lucas)

Illustrated by Malika Favre. Set in Malawi, the story incorporates an indigenous folk tale with a real life story of three children sent to their grandmother's care. The book was commissioned by Scottish charity MUMs (Malawi Underprivileged Mothers), to celebrate the amazing work of mothers, nurses and women in Malawi. It raises awareness of problems faced by young mothers in Malawi while also raising money to help them!

Malika worked very closely with the author, Tom Pow and the charity founder, Linda McDonald in order to bring the book to life. After reading Malika's process, I feel like I would really need to contact Lauren as discussed in previous post.

For Malika, “The real challenge was to communicate the reality of the situation for Malawi children while retaining and celebrating the joy of Malawi culture. We didn’t want to create a grim assesment of life in Malawi but rather raise awareness about the current situation in a positive way.” - This is quite similar for me too! This is a project much like what I want to do with my children's books - to raise awareness about the current situations all over the world but in a positive way, to encourage prosocial behaviours.