Blog Post

The Scramble for Africa was a time when the world was trying to colonize Africa. European powers were rushing to escape the economic depression that was faced in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s. There are many children’s books related to this topic. The book Africa is Not a Country by Margie Burns Knight & Mark Melnicove, discusses how Africa is more than just land. The author makes claims about the different cultures of the fifty-three nations around Africa. Another book related to this topic is Moments in History that Changed the World by Claire Hibbert. This book discusses many historical events including the Scramble for Africa which allows students to gain the perspective of what the time period was and what else was happening around the world at this time. Most books about historical events such as the Scramble for Africa, focus more on the positive aspects of African culture at the time rather than the negative aspects of any historical event. These books are meant to share the history of different events around the world but in a more sheltered way for young children. For events like the Scramble for Africa, there is a certain amount of violence that is left out of children’s books as well as racism. Africa is Not a Country is a great example of how the author can discuss such events but leave racism out of it. Instead of specifically highlighting what the colonists did, Knight focused on the different nationalities within Africa to allow children to better understand the kind of people that live in Africa. As for the book Moments in History that Changed the World, this book focuses more on the historical events and what happened around the same time. While they discuss the events in more detail, the details included are focused more on educating the child rather than imposing different mindsets, whether that be that the colonists were bad or that the Africans were weaker in this situation. The more controversial aspects of all historical events are avoided in most children’s books. This is true for books of english origin and for books of any other international origin. Adults shelter children and this affects the way that they learn and perceive the world. This can be beneficial for children in allowing them to make their own opinions about the world around them. As a result children grow up learning only part of the story sometimes. Like in the case of this topic, books steer away from the topic of racism or abuse yet, we expect our children to learn their own views without knowing the whole story. While we may think we are protecting children from the harshness of the world, if we want them to be able to make their own opinions, there own informed opinions, there comes a point when they need to know the whole truth. While this may not be at the younger school ages, as kids grow and mature they can handle the more harsh realities of our world.

Hibbert, Clare. Moments in History That Changed the World. The British Library, 2017.

Knight, Margy Burns, et al. Africa Is Not a Country. Millbrook Press, 2000.