Binti
Nnedi Okorafor
Teens & Young Adults
Africa
Young Adult
Children's Books About Africa
Explore 108 handpicked children's books set in and about Africa, chosen to help kids grow up curious about the wider world.
Books in this collection
Binti
The Boy who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye
Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad
14 Cows for America
A Gift From Childhood Memories Of An African Boyhood
A Girl Named Disaster
A Is For Africa
A Long Walk To Water Based On A True Story
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
A Story A Story
Abiyoyo Stories To Go Paperback
Africa Is Not A Country
African Tales A Barefoot Collection
Akata Warrior
Akata Witch
All Aboard for the Bobo Road
Aluta
Am I small? Ndimncinane?: Children’s Picture Book English-Xhosa (Dual Language/Bilingual Edition)
Amadi’s Snowman: A Story of Reading
An African Christmas
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions (Picture Puffin Books)
Baby Goes To Market
Ballerina Dreams: From Orphan to Dancer (Step Into Reading, Step 4)
Beatrices Goat
Binti Home
Binti The Night Masquerade
Boundless Grace (Picture Puffins)
Bringing The Rain To Kapiti Plain
Bundle of Secrets: Savita Returns Home (Best Children’s Book 2014 – Africana Children’s Book Award)
Carry Me Babies Everywhere
Chicken in the Kitchen
Chirchir Is Singing
Day of Ahmed’s Secret
Deep In The Sahara
Double Trouble For Anna Hibiscus
Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
Every Man Heart Lay Down
Facing The Lion Growing Up Maasai On The African Savanna
Fire On The Mountain Aladdin Picture Books
From The Heart Of Africa A Book Of Wisdom
Galimoto (Reading Rainbow Book)
Gizo Gizo A Tale From The Zongo Lagoon 2016
Goal!
Handas Hen
Handas Surprise Read And Share Reading And Math Together
Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books
Have Fun Anna Hibiscus
Head Body Legs A Story From Liberia
Here Comes Our Bride An African Wedding Story
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives
Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book (Picture Puffin Books)
Juma Cooks Chapati The Tanzania Juma Stories Volume 3
Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song
Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya
Mama Panyas Pancakes
Mandela: From the Life of the South African Statesman
Mirror
Moja Means One Picture Puffin Books
My Painted House My Friendly Chicken And Me
My Rows And Piles Of Coins
Once Upon A Time In Ghana Traditional Ewe Stories Retold In English
One Plastic Bag Isatou Ceesay And The Recycling Women Of The Gambia Millbrook Picture Books
Papa Do You Love Me
Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai (Frances Foster Books)
Rain School
Seeds of Change: Wangari’s Gift to the World
Shaka Rising: A Legend of the Warrior Prince (The African Graphic Novel Series)
Sleep Well Siba Saba
Sundiata: Lion King of Mali
Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina
Talk, Talk: An Ashanti Legend
The Bitter Side of Sweet
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Young Reader’s Edition
The Day Gogo Went to Vote
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
The Egypt Game
The Fortune-Tellers (Picture Puffin Books)
The Girl Who Married A Ghost And Other Tales From Nigeria
The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Case (Precious Ramotswe Mysteries for Young Readers)
The Herd Boy
The Matatu
The Mountain Jews And The Mirror
The Mystery of the Missing Lion: A Precious Ramotswe Mystery for Young Readers
The Perfect Orange: A Tale from Ethiopia (Toucan Tales Series ; Vol. 2)
The Queen of Katwe: One Girl’s Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion
The Red Pencil
The Shadows of Ghadames
The Spider Weaver: A Legend Of Kente Cloth
The Storyteller
The Tiny Traveler Egypt A Book Of Shapes
The Village That Vanished
The World Beneath: A Novel
Traveling Man The Journey Of Ibn Battuta 1325 1354
Walking Home
Wangari Maathai The Woman Who Planted Millions Of Trees
We All Went On Safari
Were Sailing Down The Nile
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale
Why The Sky Is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale
Why The Sun And The Moon Live In The Sky
Wind, Sand and Stars (Harvest Book)
Women in African History – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
Women in African History – Njinga Mbandi
Women in African History – The Women Soldiers of Dahomey
Women in African History – Wangari Maathai
Xavier the Prince: Step into Africa
You’re Amazing, Anna Hibiscus!
Zahrah the Windseeker
Narrow it down
- Children's Books About Africa for Ages 3-5
- Children's Books About Africa for Ages 5-9
- Children's Books About Africa for Ages 8-12
- Children's Books About Africa for Ages 11-14
- Children's Books About Africa for Teens & Young Adults
- Award-Winning Children's Books About Africa
- Folk Tales and Myths From Africa for Kids
- Children's Biographies About Africa
- Early Learning Books About Africa
- Children's Books About Animals of Africa
- African Animal and Safari Books for Kids
- Children's Books About Protecting the Environment
- Children's Books About Slavery and Abolition
Filter these books by age, region, and more
Common questions
What ages are these books for?
Of the 108 books here, 2 are for ages 0-2, 24 for ages 3-5, 44 for ages 5-9, 9 for ages 8-12, 13 for ages 11-14 and 9 for Teens & Young Adults. The remaining 7 are not yet sorted by age.
Where should we start?
Three good first picks are Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, The Boy who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein and Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger. All 108 books on this page are handpicked, so any of them is a fine place to begin.
Which countries are covered?
Alongside this broader collection there are separate pages for Egypt (4 books), Ghana (4 books), Kenya (10 books), Morocco (4 books), Nigeria (8 books), South Africa (9 books) and Tanzania (3 books). Every book on those pages is also on this one.
Are there bilingual, award-winning or folk-tale picks here?
Yes. This collection includes 2 bilingual editions, 30 books tagged award-winning by their publishers and 20 folk tales, fairy tales or myths.
Is every book here available?
Every book links to Amazon. 17 of the 108 are currently listed only on Amazon; the rest also link to Bookshop.org.