Animal Village

by Nelda LaTeef

Animal Village is an award-winning authentic folk tale from the Zarma culture of West Africa about a tortoise who saves her village from the ravages of drought with wisdom passed down from an "old story." Nelda LaTeef's colorful and strikingly brilliant montage of illustrations, in acrylic and collage, captures the richness and vibrancy of the sub-Saharan culture from which the story springs.

The story is especially relevant to sub-Saharan Africa as it focuses on the devastation of drought and the importance of received knowledge. With its dual themes of wisdom and grit, the book happily entertains while it teaches the importance of hard work and persistence as keys to success.

Animal Village has received a number of awards and notable mentions:

2019 Storytelling World Honor Award

Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Books of 2018

Kirkus Reviews' Indie Best Books of the Month, June 2018

Kirkus Starred review

2018 Literary Classics Seal of Approval

2018 Literary Classics International Book Awards: Gold medal (special interest category) and Silver medal (picture book category)

Independent Book Publishing Group's Best Books of 2018

2018 Next Generation Indie Book Finalist

2019 CHILDREN’S AFRICANA BOOK AWARDS (CABA) HONOR BOOK

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Reviews

“In her book, Animal Village, such mighty lessons Nelda LaTeef teaches the young and those of us who are not so young. Listen to the ‘old stories’ passed down from ‘the ancestors;’ it is always better to pull together rather than stand against each other; keep at a task until it is done; and everything is possible, by and by.”: Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

“Animal Village is an inspiring story that teaches us perseverance and the value of working together. What is true in the animal village equally holds for our global village.'': Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for Trade and European Neighborhood Policy and Chief of Protocol for the United Nations