Today I am grateful I got the opportunity (and the energy again – can you see I’m not taking this for granted??) to go to the literacy center. I feel really delighted when I leave. It’s like this part of me that has been sleeping (for most of the past 9 years) wakes up and all these teaching skills and knowledge pour out of me so naturally.

Today I took this book that I found at a market recently.

It details the story of an ant who accidentally boards a bus and tours around Ghana.

As I reflected upon last week I was struck by something I learned from teaching in Los Angeles Unified – how important it is for kids to see people who look like them and have some of their experiences – in what they read. It really is so, so important.

So I brought this book and read it to a group of older girls (maybe 8-12 years old!). They were fascinated to hear city names that are familiar to them and we even laughed about the abundance of ants in Accra – really, there are so, so many. We looked at this simple map of Ghana and traced the places together.

They were delighted to see something they knew in print. I can’t wait to find more and share it with them.

Do you know of other books that take place in West Africa?