Recently in Books Category

The comic book series "Malika Secouss," by Tehem, follows Malika, a young biracial teen living in an invented neighborhood of France. The series is like most comic books in that the main goal is not necessarily to educate but just to make readers laugh. The illustrations are fun and while some of the stories do make you laugh, it can at times be a little on the gory side. (While working in a salon, Malika accidently cuts off a clients toes!). Between all the characters in the series--both female and male--Malika is by far the most "bad ass". She never lets anyone get in her way or take advantage of her. (Her favorite defense move is to kick men in a, let's say, very sensitive area). While she may be confident and strong-willed, Malika is not exactly a model for young girls. She's not very polite, nor responsible, and one story leads us to believe she has a below-average reading level. So, while Malika was an entertaining read, it's not exactly a model series to have in libraries.

Possibly...

« Le crochet à nuages,» derrière ce titre quelque peu provocateur, se cache une superbe bande dessinée, qui traite de la vie en pays Dogon. C'est l'histoire d'un petit village Dogon en proie à la sécheresse et qui, par des rituels divers, cherche à faire tomber la pluie. Consultation du chacal, de divins, sacrifices divers; rien n'y fait !  Aucune goutte de pluie ! C'est alors que, deux garçons, Amakala et Iéména décident de régler le problème à leur manière. « Le crochet à nuages» c'est aussi un voyage sur les falaises et le paysage atypique du pays Dogon ; avec ses cérémonies de masques, ses castes, ses vieux qui se réunissent sous la case à palabre mais aussi ses antiquaires véreux qui pillent le village de ses objets sacrés.
- Elisee

"Le crochet à nuages," behind this somewhat provocative title, lies a wonderful comic book that deals with life in Dogon Country. This is the story of a Dogon village plagued by drought and which, by various rituals, is trying to make it rain. Consulting the jackal, the divine, making various sacrifices; nothing works! Not a single drop of rain! It is then that two boys, Amakala and Iéména, decide to take matters into their own hands. "Le crochet à nuages" is also a voyage to the cliffs and unusual landscape of Dogon Country, with its ceremonial masks, its castes, the elderly coming together under the community hut , but also its shady antique dealers who steal the village's sacred objects.
-Elisee

Elisee ecrit:

Le salon du livre de Paris s'est refermé ce soir. J'ai eu l'occasion d'y faire un tour cet après midi du lundi.  Près d'une centaine de stands présentant un choix immense de livres francophones. J'ai plus particulièrement aimé le stand du Congo et de la Guinée qui proposaient de la littérature d'auteurs africains, et où je me suis volontairement attardé.  Et, entre autre rencontres, j'ai eu celle de Bouba et Zaza, deux personnages africains ! Bouba et Zaza est une collection de livres illustrés, écrits en français et en anglais, pour enfants africains et qui traitent des questions dont l'explication aux enfants n'est pas toujours évidente. La gestion de l'eau, l'acceptation de la différence, le VIH/Sida sont entre autres thèmes abordés, simplement  et de façon appropriée à la compréhension du jeune lectorat.
C'est une heureuse initiative qui fait sa première présentation au Salon de Paris. Mademoiselle N'Guessan une responsable du stand m'a présenté le catalogue des 16 minis livres de la collection et m'a offert un exemplaire qui, j'en suis sûr, sera très apprécié dans la bibliothèque FAVL qui en serait l'heureuse bénéficiaire. Et bonne nouvelle ! Nous recevrons gratuitement, toute la collection de Bouba et Zaza dans les semaines à venir,  au profit des Bibliothèques de Villages au Burkina Faso.


Pour une première participation au salon du livre de Paris, je pense que c'est une manifestation qui va au delà de ce que peut imaginer un burkinabè qui ne connait de salon de livre que celui de Ouagadougou (FILO)! Pour les amoureux du livre et de la littérature francophone en général, c'est le rendez-vous par excellence à ne pas manquer !

OK so maybe the book I'm choosing to review isn't by an African author...the author is very much white and very much British; but the main character is a refugee from Nigeria so I figure that's close enough. And this is definitely a book worth reading.

The book is "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave. My favorite kinds of books are those you just can't seem to put down. The kind you stay up late at night reading and carry with you throughout the day to read during every minute of free time you can get. This is that kind of book.

Little Bee is a young (16) Nigerian refugee, just released from a British immigration detention center where she was detained for two years. Sarah is a well-off magazine editor and young mother. They are connected only by a brief yet horrific and traumatic experience. The story begins when they meet again years later.

The story is depressing yet happy, serious yet funny.  One page you read about how Little Bee thinks of ways to kill herself whenever she enters a room "in case the men come suddenly," the next you read about Charley, Sara's four year old son who refuses to ever take off his Batman costume.

The story itself is great but what I like most is that is it realistic; so often people think that being rich or even simply being white can solve anything. But as this story shows it's often much more complicated then race or class, especially when dealing with refugee/immigration cases. This story is fiction, but you can tell a lot of research was put in and reflects the stories of many real-life refugees.  

Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Read it!

No surprises here, Aya N°6 is a quick, fun and enjoyable read. The Aya de Yopougon series follows Aya , her friends and her family in the neighborhood of Yopougon in Abidjan,  Ivory Coast. My favorite thing about the Aya series is that it covers so many controversial and taboo topics...the sixth book is no different.  In the book Aya continues to find a way to denounce her teacher, who forces female students to have sex with him or else he beats them and then fails them. Filled with rage, Bonaventure chases down his son Moussa, who has stolen money from him to build schools and clinics in villages, and has him imprisoned. Innocent is now in France but must deal with the difficulties of the visa process and the French embassy. Albert decides to marry an old ugly village woman in an effort to hide his homosexuality.

As usual, Aya N°6 is a must read.

Last week I proclaimed my excitement about Clément Oubrerie, the illustrator of the popular "Aya de Yopougou" comic book series, signing books at the French Cultural Center (CCF).
I thought the comic book gods were with me but unfortunately, I was wrong. A Peace Corps bureau thing came up, obviously at the exact same time as the signing, so Charley and I were unable to attend.
Thankfully Elisée was still able to go and was nice enough to get me a signed copy of the newly released "Aya de Yopougon No.6"

picture at right taken from : http://img.over-blog.com/225x300/2/77/77/84/Auteurs/Auteurs-0535-copie-1.JPG

Elisée reports :

Je suis allé à la dédicace de Aya de Yopougon N° 6.  qui s'est enfin déroulée à la rotonde du CCF, où sont encore exposés de grandes planches de cette bande dessinée. Clément Oubrerie, le dessinateur, a profité de cette dédicace pour présenter au public le projet d'adaptation de la bande dessinée Aya  en dessins animés. Le public est sortie nombreux mais certainement, a cause du prix du livre, il n'y avait que des expatriées et pas de Burkinabè.
Le dessinateur était très sympathique et se prêtait volontier aux questions du public. J'ai un peu discuter avec M. Oubrerie sur son travail et de notre réseau de bibliothèques de village ici au Burkina Faso. Il a trouvé que l'initiative est très intéressante et était content d'apprendre que Aya  est très populaire dans nos bibliothèques. Il a ajouté que l'auteur Marguerite Abouet a aussi entrepris un projet de bibliothèques en Cote Ivoire; elle a déjà réalisé une a Yopougon à Abidjan

I went to the book signing of "Aya Yopougon No. 6" that was finally held at the CCF, where they are still running their exposition on comic books. Clément Oubrerie, the illustrator, took advantage of this dedication to announce the adaptation of the Aya comic books into a cartoon movie. Many people were in attendance but, most likely due to the high cost of the book, all were expats and there were no Burkinabes.
The illustrator was very friendly and answered questions from the audience. I had a little chat with Mr. Oubrerie about his work and told him about our network of village libraries here in Burkina Faso. He found the initiative very interesting and was happy to learn that Aya is very popular in our libraries. He added that Marguerite Abouet, the author, has also undertaken a library project in the Ivory Coast; she has already established a library in Yopougon, Abidjan.

The comic book series « Aya de Yopougon » is definitely a favorite in FAVL's libraries and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of mine too. After all, whenever I received a new « Aya » book for Pobé's library, I'd be sure I was the first to read it before sending it off.
So you can imagine my excitement when I saw that there was a comic book exposition featuring the « Aya » series and its illustrator, Clément Oubrerie at the French Cultural Center.

Elisée and I went to see the exposition and get the illustrator to sign a copy for us. The exposition was nice and well put-together, but unfortunately, Mr. Oubrerie was nowhere to be found. When we asked the program secretary when he would be there, her response was « No idea, » even though in the program it said he would be there all week.
So, we left discouraged and empty handed.
The comic book gods are with us though; today when I checked the CCF website, the new February schedule was posted up and it says a book signing is scheduled for February 8th.

I will be there, of course, but I know to keep my fingers crossed.

Today we held the first official meeting of the FAVL Librarians' Book Club and it went incredibly well.  The librarians all actively participated, made interesting observations and stated their opinions. All had strong opinions on certain aspects of the book.  The book discussed was "L'amour d'Aissatou" by Andrée Clair. It takes place in 1960's Niger, right after its independence. Balkissa is determined to send her daughter Aissatou to school, but many villagers are against it, stuck in traditional ways. The book tackles many feminist topics including girls education, forced marriage and polygamy.

-"Ce livre décrit la vie des années 1960, mais ca parle des thèmes d'actualité. C'est ca qui m'a beaucoup impressionné. » (Donkoui)
This book describes life during the 1960s, but the themes ring true today. It made a big impression on me."
-«  Ca nous montre qu'il n'y a pas grand-chose qui ait changé » (Ivette)
« It shows us that not much has changed »

The book's topic of polygamy led to a heated debate on the pros and cons of polygamist relationships and the difficulties women face. One librarian is a monogamist Catholic, another a polygamist Muslim, so you can imagine how interesting the discussion was.

The librarians all say their favorite character in the book was Aissatou's mother because of her strength and determination.
"J'ai beaucoup aimée le courage de la mère d'Aissatou. Beaucoup de femmes rêvent d'être comme elle. » (Lucy)
"I really liked the courage in Aissatou's mother. A lot of women dream of being like her."

We were thrilled with how the first meeting went and are looking forward to the next book club meeting. We asked the librarians to look around during their next FILO visit and find the book they'd like to read for their next meeting.