Children's Fiction About Africa in English.

Children's fiction about Africa which has been either written in English or translated from other languages into English is discussed in this book. Covered are 542 novels and volumes of short stories written for children that were collected and read by the author before July 1977. Part I outlines several major elements of the cultural background within which children's fiction about Africa is created and read. These elements include the intellectual climate, historical development, publishing facilities, authors, and illustrators of children's fiction about Africa. Part II outlines general characteristics of dominant themes in children's fiction about Africa, discusses the fiction in relation to the background of selected authors, and examines the content of the fiction from Euro-American and African cultural and historical perspectives. The following are the major themes discussed: local-life stories, adventure stories, animal stories and safari stories, historical fiction, fantasy, and school stories. A bibliography lists general works on the subject and provides an extensive listing of American, European, and African children's fiction about Africa. The series in which the books are included, the languages from which books have been translated, and the countries in which the stories take place are indicated at the end of each bibliographic entry. (Author/MP)