Manding Language Children’s Books

 
 

The cover of the bilingual Bambara-French Children’s Book “Donokɔrɔ yɛrɛjiranci [Le coq vaniteux]” (‘The vain rooster’)

 

This write-up is meant to help people that are looking for Children's Books that can expose kids to Bambara, Jula, Maninka or the Manding language in general.

Is this write-up for you?

You might find this write-up useful if you are a parent raising a child or children in an English- or French-speaking home or environment (e.g., the United States, Canada, France, etc) with one of the following profiles:

  • Native-speaker parents from West Africa who grew up speaking the language (but perhaps do not know how to read and write the language in a standard form) and now live and work in the West
  • English or French-speaking parents from the West that would like for their child (and perhaps themselves as well) to be exposed to the language in order to more easily connect with family members or their heritage in general
  • Heritage-speaker parents in the West who grew up bilingual or heavily exposed to the language thanks to West African immigrant parents or family members

If you are looking for Children's Books designed for schools or educational programs in Manding-speaking West Africa, then you might get something out of this write-up, but you are not the primary intended audience.

List by Language Variety

Here's a curated list of Children's Book based upon the main language variety of the text.

If the text is preceded by ???, it means that I have not been able to view it preview it in any detail.

Bambara

These following for specifically in Bambara as spoken in Mali. Note that speakers of Bambara can also use Jula language books interchangeably, so make sure to consult that section below as well if you don't find something that is appropriate for you.

Monolingual

These books are only in Bambara, but are potentially appropriate for children in terms of content.

See the Literature write-up for other print editions of other monolingual texts from the Manding oral literature tradition.

Bilingual English

  • ??? All the Lion's Gold (Carlisle) - English and Bambara in N'ko script. The N'ko version of the text is not in the standard written register used for most N'ko writings (which is closer to Maninka), but rather in a form of speech that is closer to Bambara.
  • Wala ne ka dɔgɔ wa? (Winterberg & Weichman 2018) - A translation of a popular book that is translated into hundreds of languages. Includes a mistake in the title using wala instead of yala. Otherwise, the orthography seems correct. Ages 5-6.
  • My First Bambara Dictionary (kasahorow) - A first words coloring/picture book meant where children color in basic drawing while learning some basic Bambara vocabulary. Published by kasahorow. Ages 8-10.
  • ??? My First Bambara Counting Book (kasahorow)- A first words coloring/picture book where children color in images while learning how to count in Bambara. Published by kasahorow. Ages 8-10.

Bilingual French

The following books are bilingual in Bambara and French.

They are divided up by publisher/author.

L'Harmattan

  • "Contes des quatres vents" collection - The general collection of multilingual children books and stories of which some are in Manding varieties.

  • Le coq vaniteux (Sylla 2019) - For ages 6 and up. A picture book with a proper story using adult language that parents can read to their parents. There are one or two of the paragraphs that are not properly aligned with their translation in the printed edition that I have, but I was able to figure it out. Not something that you can read to a child without at least intermediate (or advanced competence) in Bambara.

  • ??? Famori et sa mère sorcière (Diakite & Huet 2000)
  • ???? L'arbre et l'enfant (Soumare 1996) - Trilingual Bambara-French-Soninke. Potentially linked to "La femme-sorcière" (see below).
  • ??? La femme-sorcière (Soumare 1996) - Trilingual Bambara-French-Soninke. Has a distinct ISBN and title, but it has a nearly identical cover (except for the written title) as "L'arbre et l'enfant". Potentially different volumes of the same work.
Charles Bailleul / Editions Donniya

Originally from France, the Catholic missionary-cum-linguist Charles Bailleul published four small folktale books that are bilingual. They are done in "the Italian style", which means that the Bambara text runs fully before one finds the translation into French at the end.

They are available via Editions Donniya in Bamako, Mali (or l'Assocation Donniyakadi in Paris which sometimes has some in stock to sell).

  • Bamanan.org's webpage with information about the books - This page and the entire website are project of Bailleul and his colleagues.

    • Ɲinɛnin [La petite souris qui a perdu son enfant] (1997)

    • Diɲɛkɔrɔba [Vieux comme le monde] (1997)

    • Na magosa [Monsieur Déchéance]
    • Taa teri ɲini [Fais-toi des amis] (2000)

Separate Bilingual French

These books are bilingual, but the Bambara and the French versions are printed separately. You need both unless you are able to understand the Bambara original on your own.

Charles Bailleul / Editions Donniya
  • ??? Sabu ka furuko [Le mariage de Sabou] -
  • ??? Sonsannin ka fɛɛrɛw tɛ ban [Les 1001 tours de sonsan le lièvre futé] - A collection of tales collected, transcribed and translated by Bailleul. Not clear if this has been published or if it only exists as an unpublished manuscript.
Donniyakadi
  • Dundunba kumata [Le Tam-Tam qui parle] (Diarra & Fenayon 2011) - For ages 6 and up. With drawings by children and an illustrator from Mali. Includes two folktales in it. 26 pages.
  • Juguya Sara [Le prix de méchanceté] - This work was not published in print form as far as I can tell.

Games/Other (for French-speaking families)

  • Ma famille en images (Afrilangues) - A first words picture/coloring book for children to learn/discover the name of family members in Bambara.
  • SIRA mag, #1 Le Mali (Afrilangues) - Issue of Children's Magazine for kids in the West African diaspora focused on discovering Mali (including a small language lesson)
  • Jeux de 7 familles (Coulgames) - A card game (traditionally played in Britain under the name of "Happy Families")
  • Mon premier Jeu de loto Bambara (Africa Vivre) - A children's and family card game. Seems to be based off of matching Bambara letters with various images and their corresponding words.

Jula (Burkina Faso)

Speakers of Jula and Bambara can use each others books interchangeably. So make sure to look at the Bambara section as well!

Bilingual French

These books are bilingual in Jula and French.

Chelsea Rangel / FAVL

The books were created by Chelsea Rangel and published by FAVL (Friends of African Village Libraries).

Bilingual English

These books are bilingual in Jula and English.

Kathy Knowles / OCLF

Some of the following books created by Kathy Knowles via the publisher OCLF (OSU Children's Library Fund) might be in Jula and English.

I own a few of the books, but they are in storage and I need to verify.

  • My "Color" Books - A series of books made up of simple bilingual texts that accompany pictures of things of a specific color (e.g., "red car", "red shirt", etc) that were taken in West Africa. Oddly most of the pictures were clearly taken in Ghana, but the texts are in Jula (primarily spoken in Burkina Faso).

    • My Blue Book (2007)
    • My Green Book (2007)
    • My Red Book (2007)
    • My Yellow Book (2007)

  • Crocodile Bread (2009) - A picture book explaing how to make a style of bread in Burkina Faso.

Jula (Côte d'Ivoire)

  • Cun Cakica (Tera 2002) - Bilingual Jula-French collection of 12 tales published by Edilis (< Editions Livre Sud) in Côte d'Ivoire. Uses full adult language. 92 pages.

Maninka (AKA "Malinké")

  • Bolo gbe, bolo fi [Main blanche, main noire] (Favreau 2003) - A bilingual book that is from a translation of an originally French-language story for children about friendship between kids with different color skin. The Maninka orthography does not follow standard spelling. It's written à la française with little respect for Maninka word boundaries, etc. Nonetheless, the translation into Maninka was clearly done by a native speaker and reveals some interesting vocabulary, etc. 16 pages.

List of Known Book Publishers

The following are known publishers that print or have printed Manding language children's books.

West Africa

  • Editions Donniya (Mali) - Print and publishing company in Bamako.

  • Edilis (Côte d'Ivoire) - Publisher that also owns a book shop in Abidjan.

  • Kasahorow (Ghana) - Publisher of first words picture/coloring books. But primarily seems to be "print on demand" books that are available online in the West.

Europe

  • Editions Donniyakadi (France) - Small non-profit that has published a number of Bambara folktale books for children in the original language as well as in translation. No clear web presence.

  • Afrilangues (France) - African language education company that publishes books, magazines and games for French-speaking parents.

  • L'Harmattan (France) - Prolific publishing house and book shop in Paris that has its own multilingual Children's Book series of stories called "Contes des Quatre Vents". A few of these books are in Bambara or Maninka.

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