Africa Is Not A Country by Margy Burns Knight

Knight, M. B. (2002). Africa Is Not A Country. Minnesota: Lerner Publishing Group. Grades 1-4.

Award: Civil Rights Award, Children's Africana Book Award

Subject Area: Social Studies

Genre: Cultural, Picture book

Summary: This book illustrates the experiences of children at play, at school, and at home, and also explores the cultural, environmental, ethnic, and social diversity of the 53 countries that make up the African continent. There is mention of Rwanda where there are refugee children making pictures of war. In Kenya, children race to school, dreaming of one day becoming professional runners. Every group is represented with general facts also given in the back of the book.

Themes/Topics: Geography, cultural difference

Initiating Questions & Activity:

• Questions: What is Africa? Is it a state, a continent, a country? Who can find Africa on the map for me? 
• Activity: We will discuss that Africa is a continent which contains 53 different countries. We will also, as a class, look on the map and find Africa as well as point out some of the countries that will be discussed in the book that we will read.

Culminating & Extending Questions:

• Questions: Can someone tell me what the children in Kenya were doing in the story? Why do you think this is important? What was your favorite part of the book?
• Activity: The students will take time to discuss with me, as a class, the answers to some of the questions that I will pose. After questioning, we will move to tables and do an arts and crafts activity where they students will have the opportunity to color and label the different parts of the African continent.
• Activity: