African Town
  • Published: 4 April 2022
  • ISBN: 9780593322888
  • Imprint: Putnam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $39.99

African Town

Formats & editions
EBook
4 Jan 2022
Paperback
7 Mar 2023
Hardback
4 Apr 2022
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Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.

Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.

In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they'd been delivered. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.
  • Published: 4 April 2022
  • ISBN: 9780593322888
  • Imprint: Putnam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $39.99
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Praise for African Town

Praise for The Cat Man of Aleppo:

A Caldecott Honor
A 2021 Notable Book for a Global Society
Winner of the 2020 Middle East Book Award
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book of 2020

* “Based on a true story, this picture book is distinctive for its engaging narrative and impeccable illustrations . . . A beautifully told and illustrated story that offers a unique perspective on both war and humanity.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* “With meticulous care, Shimizu draws the destroyed buildings, the empty streets, and the cats that fleeing Syrians have left behind . . . Latham and Shamsi-Basha pick out the glimmers of light that make up Alaa’s story, and Shimizu portrays their beauty.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

* “The story of the Cat Man of Aleppo is remarkable…Shimizu’s lifelike illustrations capture the joy and beauty prior to the war, juxtaposing it with the horror and grief that followed . . .  A safe, sobering, and hopeful introduction to the crisis in Syria.” —Booklist, starred review

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