Ghana Journal: Sprucing Up

The citizens of Cape Coast are getting ready for Oguua Fetu Afeshia (Fanti for Cape Coast Festival). The afeshia is celebrated the first week of every September to honor the bounty of the earth and the sea. For two weeks prior to the festival the bay is not fished so it can rest. On the second day of the festival the local tribal chief throws a net into the middle of the bay to bring in the gifts of the sea for the feast. On Thursday a cow is slaughtered, and on Saturday is feast day. Over the course of the week, there will be pageants, parades, drumming and singing in preparation Saturday’s feast. Here are some photos of the town sprucing up and some of the spices and goods coming into town on the Saturday before the feast: http://picasaweb.google.com/labanhill

Here is a link to video of a school marching band practicing for the festival:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxT-LEWCSNw

Finally,here is a video of a street drummer performing at Kokoturaba Market this afternoon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3lzJRKEyYs

Selected Works

1. Nonfiction

DJ Kool Herc
The first picturebook biography of the founder of rap and hip hop, DJ Kool Herc!

America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the 60s
"Phenomenal."–Howard Zinn "Excellent."–New York Times Book Review

Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance
“Harlem Stomp! is a wonderous new book: it celebrates a time, a place, an energy, and a people who refused to be held back and so they created a culture the entire world is still reeling from.”

--George C. Wolfe, writer, director, and producer of the Public Theater, NYC

3. Poetry

Dave the Potter
A picturebook poem describing the life of the slave potter Dave. Illustrated by Bryan Collier.

Contemporary Poetry of New England
“Contemporary Poetry of New England offers a vivid portrait of a region, its colors and smells, its physical and emotional textures, and the people…. It presents a range of poets, few of whom would call themselves a “region poet,” although each has taken to heart in a private way Frost’s haunting dictum: ‘Locality gives art.’”

--from the Introduction

2. Fiction

A Brush with Napoleon
A seventeen-year-old is plucked out of the Grande Armee to sit in place of Napoleon for a portrait of the Emperor by the artist David.

Casa Azul
"I felt like a kid reading every word on the page! I liked the strains of "magic realism" coming through in Frida's house! Children will relate to this very much! The story is charming and reads like a thriller." –Margarita Aguilar, Assisant Curator, El Museo del Barrio

4. Middle Grade Series

Xtreme Mysteries
These kids love extreme sports--snowboarding, skateboarding, rock climbing, wake boarding--and are ready to fight when the right to do their sport is threatened.