Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song

By: Kathryn Erskine

"Miriam Makeba, a Grammy Award–winning South African singer, rose to fame in the hearts of her people at the pinnacle of apartheid―a brutal system of segregation similar to American Jim Crow laws. Mama Africa, as they called her, raised her voice to help combat these injustices at jazz clubs in Johannesburg; in exile, at a rally beside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and before the United Nations.

Set defiantly in the present tense, this biography offers readers an intimate view of Makeba’s fight for equality. Kathryn Erskine’s call-and-response style text and Charly Palmer’s bold illustrations come together in a raw, riveting duet of protest song and praise poem. A testament to how a single voice helped to shake up the world―and can continue to do so."

Awards

• Coretta Scott King Book New Talent Award

• Children's Africana Book Award

Discussion Questions:

• What is the title of the book?

• Who and what do you see on the cover of the book?

• What do you think the book might be about?

• How might Miriam "spread hope with her song"?

• If you could change one thing about the world to make it a better place, what would it be?