Chanda Kabelo, a teenaged African girl, must save her younger siblings after they are kidnapped and forced to serve as child soldiers in General Mandiki's rebel army.

"An elephant eats, giraffes drink, a warthog digs, and a boy plays, reads, and dreams."--

"In the African highlands, three unlikely allies--Echo, a water buffalo chosen by the Great Spirit to lead; Stride, a cheetah hiding a deadly secret; and Tailgrabber, a young hyena desperate to find peace--must hold their own against the coming storm."--

“Remarkable. . . . Iweala never wavers from a gripping, pulsing narrative voice. . . . He captures the horror of ethnic violence in all its brutality and the vulnerability of youth in all its innocence.” —Entertainment Weekly (A)

The harrowing, utterly original debut novel by Uzodinma Iweala about the life of a child soldier in a war-torn African country

As civil war

...

A lion cast out from his tribe. An elephant who can read the bones of the dead. A baboon rebelling against his destiny. For generations, the animals of the African plains have followed a single rule: only kill to survive. But when an unthinkable act of betrayal shatters the peace, the fragile balance between predators and prey will rest in the paws of three unlikely heroes.

When Turtle makes an off-hand remark to Bird at the watering hole one day, Bird's misunderstanding starts a series of rumors that stirs up the other animals.

With the false leader destroyed, the animals of Bravelands are searching for the true Great Parent, but a mysterious new menace is threatening their lives. --

Sarie struggles when she reads aloud in class in her South African school, but then she and her friend Auntie Anna find a book about Cinderella in Auntie Anna's old car and begin to read together.

"As the new Great Father, the young baboon, Thorn, hopes to guide Bravelands to peace after a period of great turmoil. But a pack of rogue wolves lurks among the Great Herd, committing acts so evil they threaten to shatter that peace before it's even begun. The animals of the Great Herd must once again unite to defend their home against those who would watch it burn." --

"Caldecott Honor-winner Rachel Isadora's stunning oil paintings illustrate this delightful bedtime tale, set on the African plains. The sun has set and the moon is rising, and that means it's bedtime. But not if Lala has a say--because she's not ready to go to sleep! First she needs to say good night to the cat. And the goat. And the chickens. And, and, and... Lala's adorable stalling strategy will ring true for all parents whose little ones aren't...