Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I Lost My Tooth In Africa by Penda Diakite (Multicultural)


I Lost My Tooth in Africa is based on a true story about a little girls adventure when she visits her parents’ home country in Africa. Amina is excited to hear that if she loses her wiggly tooth while she is visiting Africa she will receive a chicken! Amina does everything she can to lose her tooth while she is visiting her family. Throughout the story Amina shares her family traditions, her favorite African meals, the games she plays, and the language from Africa. One night as Amina is falling asleep in her bamboo bed her tooth finally falls out! The next morning Amina puts her tooth under a calabash gourd and impatiently awaits her very own chicken. Amina finds things within her village to keep her busy while she is waiting for the African tooth fairy to come visit her. After waiting for a couple of days Amina turns over the calabash gourd and discovers a rooster and a hen! This book has amazing illustrations and is full of the African culture. I was excited to see that the story was based on the author’s experience which made the story easy to connect to. There are several things to be learned throughout the story and would be a great way to introduce a unit on African culture. Great book!

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