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Kofi & His Magic
A young Ashanti boy describes some of the wonders of his life in and around the West African village of Bonwire.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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328 people want to read
About the author
Maya Angelou
294 books14.6k followersMaya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes that include racism, identity, family, and travel.
She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes that include racism, identity, family, and travel.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 12, 2021
Fantastic photographs of the people, architecture, signs, textures, colors, and vibrancy of Ghana. 7–year-old Kofi is a magician and weaver of Kente cloth in Bonwire who shares the magic of his world - his ancestors, the Ashanti’s Royal Golden Stool, the dancing and the singing at the Durbar Harvest Festival, the horned and cowrie shelled hats and painted houses of the northerners, and the breaking waves and the salty air of the Atlantic Ocean. What a joyful and marvelous book for children to be exposed to another child’s life and culture. It is a celebration of life and imagination. 5 stars.
August 3, 2016
To check out my reviews: http://dancinginth3dark.blogspot.com
Maya Angelou missed her mark with this book. I'm sorry to say it but these photographs either did not have a strong story to tell or the passion of writing this book was not fully committed. She incorporated the same experiment of making a story out of the photographs and I was disappointed. I was expecting more out of the story and character development but I didn't get anything in return.
I love that Maya Angelou wanted to incorporate African culture whether it be the different cultural lifestyle, the beautiful costumes, or how as a community they make beautiful art whether it be music, storytelling, or other. We need diverse books for children especially how ill informed are we when it comes to Africans and what is daily life for them in the 21st century.
Once again the photographs are spectacular but it couldn't help the story or making me raise it from 3 stars to 4.
Maya Angelou missed her mark with this book. I'm sorry to say it but these photographs either did not have a strong story to tell or the passion of writing this book was not fully committed. She incorporated the same experiment of making a story out of the photographs and I was disappointed. I was expecting more out of the story and character development but I didn't get anything in return.
I love that Maya Angelou wanted to incorporate African culture whether it be the different cultural lifestyle, the beautiful costumes, or how as a community they make beautiful art whether it be music, storytelling, or other. We need diverse books for children especially how ill informed are we when it comes to Africans and what is daily life for them in the 21st century.
Once again the photographs are spectacular but it couldn't help the story or making me raise it from 3 stars to 4.
September 6, 2022
Maya Angelou herself creates a story with the stunning photographs taken by Margaret Courtney-Clarke. I wish there was an author's note describing this collaboration, especially how the photos came to be. How did they decide to focus on Kofi? Did Courtney-Clarke focus her photography on him, or did she and Angelou pick him out of a much larger set? Did Courtney-Clarke "embed" herself, following his trips? How did he really end up visiting the north and the Atlantic--was that arranged by a guardian, or by Courtney-Clarke? When did Angelou come in?
Still, as an introduction to Ghana, Kofi and His Magic definitely delivers. The story is a bit shoehorned in around the facts, but ultimately the voice that Angelou creates for Kofi is so charming that I kind of forgave the awkward/nonexistent transitions between places and ideas. Having Kofi imagine himself in different parts of the country probably helps kids realize that Africa is not the same everywhere--that even cities in the same country can look very different (painted houses vs. plain), and a boy in what looks like a town in the interior can visit the sea. Kofi shows us his Kente weaving, the table he carries to school on his head, the brightly painted buses that could take him to the city, the colorful houses up north, and the annual festival of Durbar where Kente cloth is on display. It's a whiz-bang introduction, but one many Americans will never get.
Charming and certainly a conversation starter.
Still, as an introduction to Ghana, Kofi and His Magic definitely delivers. The story is a bit shoehorned in around the facts, but ultimately the voice that Angelou creates for Kofi is so charming that I kind of forgave the awkward/nonexistent transitions between places and ideas. Having Kofi imagine himself in different parts of the country probably helps kids realize that Africa is not the same everywhere--that even cities in the same country can look very different (painted houses vs. plain), and a boy in what looks like a town in the interior can visit the sea. Kofi shows us his Kente weaving, the table he carries to school on his head, the brightly painted buses that could take him to the city, the colorful houses up north, and the annual festival of Durbar where Kente cloth is on display. It's a whiz-bang introduction, but one many Americans will never get.
Charming and certainly a conversation starter.
August 20, 2022
I was just trying to find books for my classroom library. Then I found a book with Maya Angelou's name and Africa. What could go wrong?
Maya Angelou's words were beautiful and poetical. Tells a story of a boy called Kofi who has the magic of imagination. He takes you on a fantastical journey through Ghana, sharing the different cultures in Ghana.
Accompany with Angelou's words are Margaret Courtney-Clarke's vivid and beautiful photographs. Photographs that made me slightly homesick of Malawi, despite Malawi being in Southern Africa and not West.
Both the lyrical words and photographs complemented each other well.
Maya Angelou's words were beautiful and poetical. Tells a story of a boy called Kofi who has the magic of imagination. He takes you on a fantastical journey through Ghana, sharing the different cultures in Ghana.
Accompany with Angelou's words are Margaret Courtney-Clarke's vivid and beautiful photographs. Photographs that made me slightly homesick of Malawi, despite Malawi being in Southern Africa and not West.
Both the lyrical words and photographs complemented each other well.
May 29, 2019
Stunning pictures of Africa offer a look into the life of an African boy that gives us an insight often neglected by mainstream media. This Africa isn't anything like the Africa seen on tv sometimes, this one is teeming with life, culture, and vibrancy in every respect. The way this book is set up, kids don't even realize at first they're being taken on a tour of Africa because they're so sidetracked trying to figure out Kofi's magic trick, which he doesn't tell you at the beginning. Great book!
December 2, 2018
true story of an ordinary African boy who believes that he can do extraordinary things, and in this case of magic. I really appreciate the way the book is written, in a way that many kids can understand and follow it. This is a story of an ordinary boy doing extraordinary things, so it can show that no matter your race or who you are; you can do anything, especially if you have the right mindset.
August 7, 2018
I didn't even glance at the author as i read this one evening to my granddaughter. It was so delightful that I quickly looked to see and of course! Maya Angelou! Of course!
Our older son was born in Kumasi, Ghana and the symbols and colors and scenes brought back all those wonderful memories of hospitality and joy. I just closed my eyes.
Our older son was born in Kumasi, Ghana and the symbols and colors and scenes brought back all those wonderful memories of hospitality and joy. I just closed my eyes.
May 25, 2017
I love that this book is a story of how an ordinary boy name Kofi, who lives in West Africa, can do extraordinary things. It's good for kids to relate to and see how he acts. Also, the real life pictures are super cool.
October 23, 2021
I would never have expected her to write nonfiction like this and have it work so well. Full disclosure: My Painted House My Friendly Chicken and Me is better but this is still really good.
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December 27, 2015I really don't love that the blurb says "West Africa," like could we stop perpetuating the idea that Africa is one single undifferentiated ~country? Though I Googled and apparently "West Africa" is a standard term for specific area of Africa -- Wikipedia says, "West Africa, also called Western Africa and the West of Africa, is the westernmost subcontinent of Africa. West Africa has been defined as including the 18 countries [...] The Economic Community of West African States, established in May 1975, has defined the region of West Africa since 1999 as including the following 15 states: [...] Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Western Africa includes the preceding states with the addition of Mauritania (which withdrew from ECOWAS in 1999) [...] The UN region also includes the island of Saint Helena, a British overseas territory in the south Atlantic Ocean." (Yes, the UN list is only 17. Wiki's opening list of 18 also includes São Tomé and Príncipe -- "a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa." Its citation for that 18-country list is: Paul R. Masson, Catherine Anne Pattillo, "Monetary union in West Africa (ECOWAS): is it desirable and how could it be achieved?" (Introduction). International Monetary Fund, 2001. ISBN 1-58906-014-8.)
The back says "the West African town of Bonwire" and I Googled and Bonwire is in Ghana. Which apparently I could have learned from the Library of Congress -- and Maya Angelou's dedication says, "I dedicate my work in this book to my late sister Efu Sutherland and all the children of Ghana who were her children too."
At one point Kofi names some northern towns, and they are indeed all towns in northern Ghana. Later, Kofi says, "I am at a festival called a Durbar," and if you just Google Durbar+festival you get an Islamic festival in some towns in Nigeria, but if you add "Ghana" to the search string you get various websites that seem to indicate that a Durbar is either a type of Ghanian festival or a synonym for "festival" in Ghana (none of the sites I read particularly clarified). I could go for a glossary at the end of this book.
Maya Angelou gets all the writing credit for this book, and I wonder if the gist of the story came from the actual child photographed in the book (is his name actually Kofi?) or any other (Ghanian) children she/the photographer knew. I hope everyone in the book meaningfully consented to be photographed for it (including the parents/guardians of the minors). Do you get any royalties for being a primary subject in a book like this?
The story's fun enough; and although the photographs seem a bit extraneous at the beginning, for most of the book the complement the narrative well and I do really appreciate exposing US children to positive images of Africa -- especially accompanying a story that gently teaches them that Africa contains a variety of cultures (is not a cultural monolith). I want to like the book, but I worry a lot about it also.
The back says "the West African town of Bonwire" and I Googled and Bonwire is in Ghana. Which apparently I could have learned from the Library of Congress -- and Maya Angelou's dedication says, "I dedicate my work in this book to my late sister Efu Sutherland and all the children of Ghana who were her children too."
At one point Kofi names some northern towns, and they are indeed all towns in northern Ghana. Later, Kofi says, "I am at a festival called a Durbar," and if you just Google Durbar+festival you get an Islamic festival in some towns in Nigeria, but if you add "Ghana" to the search string you get various websites that seem to indicate that a Durbar is either a type of Ghanian festival or a synonym for "festival" in Ghana (none of the sites I read particularly clarified). I could go for a glossary at the end of this book.
Maya Angelou gets all the writing credit for this book, and I wonder if the gist of the story came from the actual child photographed in the book (is his name actually Kofi?) or any other (Ghanian) children she/the photographer knew. I hope everyone in the book meaningfully consented to be photographed for it (including the parents/guardians of the minors). Do you get any royalties for being a primary subject in a book like this?
The story's fun enough; and although the photographs seem a bit extraneous at the beginning, for most of the book the complement the narrative well and I do really appreciate exposing US children to positive images of Africa -- especially accompanying a story that gently teaches them that Africa contains a variety of cultures (is not a cultural monolith). I want to like the book, but I worry a lot about it also.
July 25, 2011
"on a list of books recomended for teaching books to students on themes and ideas,a story about a boy in africa relating his culutre and dreams to an american audience. very basic and child like, in a poetic form
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews