Overview

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection A CBC Spring 2024 Showcase Selection No matter where she goes, or how big she grows, Wanjik knows her name. Librarian Favorites: Third to Fifth Grade In the lush Kenyan countryside, a young Giky girl helps her grandmother with daily tasks. Here, as she tends to the cows, carries water, and plays in the fruit trees and sugarcane, she is called Wanjik. On the busy city streets of Nairobi, where she goes to school, she is called by her English name, Catherine. But at home with Wangar, the maid who cooks and cares for her, she is again Wanjik. All grown up in boarding school, Catherine is the leader of her class, surrounded by friends from different cultural backgrounds. But at night, when she gathers with her fellow Giky sisters to speak her mother tongue, she is Wanjik once more. Gloriously illustrated, alive with the joie de vivre of girlhood, and based on the author's own beloved childhood memories, Wanjik, Child of Mine is an ode to the heritage that walks alongside us, and a love song for the sisters we make on the journey.

Full Product Details

9781960803016

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Reviews

"""Wanjiku, Child of Mine is a beautiful story of identity and origin, of family bonds and forging new connections. Ciiku Ndungu-Case's lilting language, along with Karen Vermeulen's evocative illustrations, transports young readers to lush Kenya. This story is a treat of unexpected childhood delights, community connections, and resilience.""  - Kashmira Sheth, author of Tiger in my Soup and Feast of Peas"

Author Information

Ciiku Ndung'u-Case is the founder of the Cheza Nami Foundation, a California based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that promotes play-based cultural education and diversity awareness, inspired by Ciiku's childhood in rural Kenya and the lack of accessible educational resources on Africa for her twins, born in 2007. Ciiku's work in creating cultural awareness programs has appeared in CBS News, TEDx Livermore, the Oakland Magazine, and several California news outlets. An immigrant and first generation college graduation, Ciiku holds a Master's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology and is a leader in strategic planning in the pharmaceutical industry.Wanjiku, Child of Mineis based on Ciiku's childhood in Kenya. Karen Vermeulen is an artist, illustrator and teacher living in Cape Town, South Africa, known for her happy, uplifting and quirky creations. She is the illustrator of the 2023 release, It's Just Skin, Silly!.

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