African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History

(Hardback)

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Description

Every year, American schoolchildren celebrate Black History Month. They study almost exclusively American stories, which are not only rooted in struggle over enslavement or oppression, but also take in only four hundred years of a rich and thrilling history that goes back many millennia across the African continent. Through portraits of ten historical figures from Menes, the first ruler to be called Pharaoh, to Queen Idia, a sixteenth-century power broker, visionary, and diplomat African Iconstakes readers on a journey across Africa to meet some of the great leaders and thinkers whose ideas built a continent and shaped our world.

Reviews

A New York Public Library 2021 Best Book for Kids

"InAfrican Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History,Baptiste engages in the hard work of unveiling the myths about the African continent to young readers. She pieces together the stories of ten people in a continent that fueled the world. This is a great beginners guide to pre-colonial Africa."
Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author ofStamped from the BeginningandHow to Be an Antiracist

Baptiste sheds light on the rich and complex pre-enslavement history of the African continent . . .A spellbinding collection . . .An impeccably researched revelation that fills a too wide gap in collections; its unfair how long its taken for these histories to be made public to young readers.
SLJ, starred review

What Baptiste accomplishes in only 139 pages of narrative is near miraculous. She lifts the veil intentionally cast over African history, granting readers a veritable feast of information and inspiration . . . Wilsons portraits of each figure exude such beauty, strength, power, and, above all, dignity as to be nearly breathtaking. Each one gazes out at readers with a regal confidence thats sure to inspire them to gaze back . . . Black readers of any age will see themselves reflected in the amazing lives chronicled, many of whom may be new to readers. Non-Black readers will get a window into the marvelous history of a continent oft overlooked and relegated to a single narrative. Refreshingly free of generalizations, this impressively researched work was clearly a massive undertaking (as evidenced by the source notes), presenting figures from multiple parts of the continent in the truth of their cultural and historical richness. The result is empowering, necessary, and required reading for all. Game changing.
Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Riveting . . . A rich account of innovative, oft-untold breakthroughs that took place in Africa before European colonization . . . Lush full-color art, depicting African luminaries and kingdoms in all of their glory. Concise and well researched, this robust, historically accurate timeline of the great [African] continent and its people will serve as an invaluable resource for years to come.
Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Readers will be fascinated by the lives of these icons and gain a real appreciation of Africas underrepresented place in world history."
Booklist

Tracey Baptiste takes on a formidable task with this book . . . Baptistes muscular prose is compelling and the majority of the figures will be new to readers. Even the ones I had heard of (Aesop and Hannibal, for example) were put into a historical context that refreshed my interest.
Youth Services Book Review

African Iconsis a great read It empowers Black kids, informing them that they can do great things just like the people before them.jam-packed with amazing facts.
The City Book Review, Kids BookBuzz

A New York Public Library 2021 Best Book for Kids

"InAfrican Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History,Baptiste engages in the hard work of unveiling the myths about the African continent to young readers. She pieces together the stories of ten people in a continent that fueled the world. This is a great beginners guide to pre-colonial Africa."
Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author ofStamped from the BeginningandHow to Be an Antiracist

Baptiste sheds light on the rich and complex pre-enslavement history of the African continent . . .A spellbinding collection . . .An impeccably researched revelation that fills a too wide gap in collections; its unfair how long its taken for these histories to be made public to young readers.
SLJ, starred review

What Baptiste accomplishes in only 139 pages of narrative is near miraculous. She lifts the veil intentionally cast over African history, granting readers a veritable feast of information and inspiration . . . Wilsons portraits of each figure exude such beauty, strength, power, and, above all, dignity as to be nearly breathtaking. Each one gazes out at readers with a regal confidence thats sure to inspire them to gaze back . . . Black readers of any age will see themselves reflected in the amazing lives chronicled, many of whom may be new to readers. Non-Black readers will get a window into the marvelous history of a continent oft overlooked and relegated to a single narrative. Refreshingly free of generalizations, this impressively researched work was clearly a massive undertaking (as evidenced by the source notes), presenting figures from multiple parts of the continent in the truth of their cultural and historical richness. The result is empowering, necessary, and required reading for all. Game changing.
Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Riveting . . . A rich account of innovative, oft-untold breakthroughs that took place in Africa before European colonization . . . Lush full-color art, depicting African luminaries and kingdoms in all of their glory. Concise and well researched, this robust, historically accurate timeline of the great [African] continent and its people will serve as an invaluable resource for years to come.
Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Readers will be fascinated by the lives of these icons and gain a real appreciation of Africas underrepresented place in world history."
Booklist

Historical African leaders are introduced in thrilling accounts of their lives; each entry is accompanied by an eye-catching full-color (speculative) portrait.
Horn Book

Tracey Baptiste takes on a formidable task with this book . . . Baptistes muscular prose is compelling and the majority of the figures will be new to readers. Even the ones I had heard of (Aesop and Hannibal, for example) were put into a historical context that refreshed my interest.
Youth Services Book Review

African Iconsis a great read It empowers Black kids, informing them that they can do great things just like the people before them.jam-packed with amazing facts.
The City Book Review, Kids BookBuzz

Author Bio

Tracey Baptiste lived in Trinidad until she was fifteen; she grew up on jumbie stories and fairy tales. She is a New York Times bestselling author of Minecraft: The Crash, and a former teacher who works as a writer and editor.