October 2, 2008

Ghana Journal: Ghana Counting Songs

While studying Fanti, my teacher Rose has shared with me some counting songs that children sing when they learn their numbers and learn how to add. I thought I would post two of these. The first one is titled “Kube Kor,” which is the word for one coconut but also the name of a town.

Kube Kor (One Coconut)

I went to One Coconut.
I saw two coconuts.
I saw three houses.
I saw four chicken coops
I saw five chicks
I saw six black pigs
I saw seven grandmothers
With eight children,
Nine bowls of kenkey,
And ten big tilapia.

This next one is an adding song. You’ll probably recognize it as a variation on a song we sing in America.

If one bottle lies on the roof
If one bottle lies on the roof
And you add one more
Then two bottles lie on the roof
Two bottles lie on the roof
If two bottles lie on the roof
If two bottles lie on the roof
And you add one more
Then three bottles lie on the roof
Three bottles lie on the roof
If three bottles lie on the roof
If three bottles lie on the roof
And you add one more
Then four bottles lie on the roof
Four bottles lie on the roof
And so on and so on…

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.