Too Small Tola is a new chapter book from Atinuke featuring three stories about a girl living with her grandmother and siblings in Lagos, Nigeria. Everyone teases Tola — sometimes lovingly — for being so small. They think she can’t lift heavy loads or do other things because of her size. But Tola’s grandmother reassures her that you can be small, but mighty, and Tola proves that she is!
8 Books Like… Homegoing
Recommending readalikes can be a tricky process, but as I said in the first post in this series, I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today’s pick is Yaa Gyasi’s sweeping debut novel about two sisters separated by events during the African slave trade and the ripple effects throughout their families spanning over several decades.
6 Books Like… Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Recommending readalikes can be a tricky process, but as I said in the first post in this series, I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today’s pick is a new release by Ghanaian author, Yaa Gyasi, a story about the intersection of faith and science, and the grief of losing a son and brother to the opioid epidemic. Without further ado, if you loved this book, here are more books like Transcendent Kingdom.
Picture Book Love: Catch That Chicken
Catch That Chicken was my first read of the author Atinuke. She is popular for her Anna Hibiscus books, a series of chapter books set in Africa (many readers place the country as Nigeria as Atinuke is Nigerian). In this delightful picture book, young Lami who lives in a large village compound, is known to be the best chicken catcher. She runs quickly, trying to catch any chicken she’s asked to, until one day, her adventures lead to a sprained ankle and Lami has to learn new ways of catching chickens.
10 Books Like… Americanah
I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today’s pick is a classic by Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that is both a meditation on race and immigration, as well as a love story. If you haven’t read it yet, you should, as you should all of Adichie’s other books! Here are 10 more books like Americanah.
Review | Transcendent Kingdom
Transcendent Kingdom is Yaa Gyasi’s long-awaited sophomore novel. Her debut, Homegoing was widely read and loved. In this book, Gifty is a PhD student whose research focuses on desire and restraint and how both factors play into addiction and depression. The story follows Gifty’s life from her childhood in Huntesville, Alabama to the present, alternating between several timelines. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted athlete, first playing soccer in his childhood, and then basketball in his teens, until a game injury led to a brush with Oxycontin which eventually spiraled into the opoid addiction that took his life.
Review | His Only Wife
His Only Wife was my return to adult fiction. I always wondered which book would finally do it, and it was this one. Set in Ghana, this debut novel by Peace Adzo Medie follows a young woman Afi Tekple. The story open at Afi’s marriage to Elikem Ganyo, a man from a high standing Ghanaian family — except Elikem is absent during the ceremony, and his brother is standing in for him. The Ganyos are marrying Afi traditionally for their son, because they are displeased with his current relationship with a Liberian woman with whom he has a daughter.
