Excellent for children between the ages four to twelve, African Beginnings allows children to learn about a country unlike their own. Filled with plenty of information and beautiful illustrations, African Beginnings is the perfect book to use when homeschooling or when you want to add a little educational reading to your child’s library.

Written by James Haskins (author of The Cotton Club) and Kathleen Benson, African Beginnings takes your child through the history of many of the most ancient empires in Africa. They will have a chance to learn about Nubia, Egypt, Mali, Timbuktu, Kongo, Ghana, Songhay, and other areas of Africa.

Your children will also have a chance to learn about the spread of Islam and other milestones in African History. Cultural lessons about Ancient African music and dance, art, religion, slavery, trade, and colonization are also included in the pages of this paperback book.

While this book has been marketed for children it also works well for anyone interested in African history. African Beginnings is the first in a series of books about Africa. Other books in the series include Building a New Land and Bound for America. Both authors and the illustrator, Floyd Cooper were honored with a Coretta Scott King award.

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It’s time to go on a Safari! Get the smaller children ready to go. Then sit them down in a comfy chair or on a kid-sized mat for an experience unlike anything they have had in any other book.

This special book is going to take them through Tanzania with new friends. Not only will they be able to see beautiful illustrations and enjoy a fun story, but they will also have a chance to learn to count in both English and Swahili.

On this trip, your kids will be traveling with ten new friends. These friends include Arusha, Tumpe, and Maasai. Each page leads to a new number, new animals, and a new friend.

From numbers one to ten your child will experience beautiful illustrations of wilderness landscaping and animals. At the bottom corner they will see the appropriate number for the animals on the page and the number written out in Swahili.

The author, Laurie Krebs, is an educator and world traveler. We Went on Safari was written after she returned from a trip to Africa and wanted her students and grandchildren to understand about the life, language, and culture of Tanzania.

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In the book, My Granny went to Market, kids have a chance to fly around the world with Granny. As she races around on her magic carpet, kids will see new countries as Granny goes shopping and buys new things on her trips.

As she goes from country to country, seeing all these new things, she continues to pick up more items. This gives kids a chance to count the items that she buys.

Granny begins her shopping in Istanbul where she buys her flying carpet. From there she heads to Thailand, Mexico, China, and Switzerland. Later she heads to Africa, Russia, Australia, and Japan. Of course, she doesn’t stop there.

Granny heads to other places, too. On her travels, Granny buys everything from lanterns to boomerangs. She buys llamas, cowbells, and nesting dolls. Best of all, everything she buys has to do with the country where she picks it up. For example, while in Thailand Granny picks up two temple cats and names them Puyin and Puchai, which means little girl and little boy in the Thai language.

Written by Stella Blackstone and Christopher Corr and published by Barefoot Books, My Granny Went to Market offers beautifully vivid pictures and a fun, educational message.

Best suited for younger children who are learning to count, the pictures and the counting will provide plenty of smiling and laughing, the first time you read this book and many times after. If your child is just learning to count you will want to read it with them.

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Book Ten, Phillis Wheatley: Young Revolutionary Poet, of the Young Patriots Series by Patria Press offers an engaging and insightful look into a female poet that most children know little about. Recommended for ages five to twelve, Phillis Wheatley is an engaging, entertaining read that also provides educational benefit.

You can read this book as a family, or assign it to an older child in homeschool or for extra reading practice. We read this with our son who is home schooled and 12 years old. From the first page until the last he was entertained. In fact, he didn’t want to put it down.

He found the information to be interesting and it brought up some questions that we answered about slavery and the times when Wheatley was alive. Many of the spots had him laughing and reading on his own when we planned to take a break.

As an educational supplement, a home schooling addition, or a traditional book kids can read on their own time, most kids will love this book. Phillis Wheatly is excellent because you have the benefit of reading, which is fun for many children, but it also allows children to learn something historical, as well.

This is a good book to show children that not all slaves were treated poorly and that there were slaves that were able to make an impact on society. They were able to become something and they also were able to learn and grow despite their oppression.

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Donning a load of ferocious looking Super Heroes, the Marvel Heroes Mix & Match Storybook offers hundreds of ways and combinations for kids to make a story. The book is simple and entertaining. Propping the book on its side you are able to make use of five cut-up sections. Each section creates a story. You move the storyboard on each section to a place you want it, or you just flip from tile to tile, and a story emerges.

Kids of various ages will have fun with this book but that is not the only reason that it’s a decent choice for your child’s collection. Not only will it get them looking at books, it will entice your child to be more creative. There are five sections for them to create the basis of a story.

For example, flipping through the book just now, I came up with the following:

The Red Skull targeted his time stopper at the white house, but it was suddenly destroyed by the Hulk’s Giant Green Fists.

While this tells a child a story it can also be made into a base plot for them to continue the tale. Ask them what happened in between point A and B or even after the day has been saved.

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