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A review by samgray
African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History by Tracey Baptiste
5.0
A fantastic primer to begin learning about African history! I appreciated that the author made great efforts to choose stories from across the continent and focus on pre-colonial history, much of which I had never been taught.
The art is gorgeous and definitely took this book from great to astounding! Being able to connect the 'icons' to their recreated picture brought them to life!
Some other reviews focused only on the Egyptian chapters, so I was happily surprised to find that this little book spans farther than Ancient Egypt.
The book is written like a textbook but is broken up into short chapters that focus either on an idea or historical figure. I felt that the target audience was probably late elementary school to middle school, but the information was still new to me! The chapters' main ideas connect to create a narrative that spans the history from Ancient Egypt to the beginnings of colonialism and the slave trade. What lies between these moments in history are illuminated in an informative and fascinating way, and I definitely feel more confident in approaching African history further after reading ' African Icons!'
The art is gorgeous and definitely took this book from great to astounding! Being able to connect the 'icons' to their recreated picture brought them to life!
Some other reviews focused only on the Egyptian chapters, so I was happily surprised to find that this little book spans farther than Ancient Egypt.
The book is written like a textbook but is broken up into short chapters that focus either on an idea or historical figure. I felt that the target audience was probably late elementary school to middle school, but the information was still new to me! The chapters' main ideas connect to create a narrative that spans the history from Ancient Egypt to the beginnings of colonialism and the slave trade. What lies between these moments in history are illuminated in an informative and fascinating way, and I definitely feel more confident in approaching African history further after reading ' African Icons!'