Children's Book


The New Book Cover


In recent  months and weeks files of texts and artwork have arrived by email into hotmail, gmail, skype and drop box. Each file has been a precious secret gift. It’s been like when I was a kid  opening a Christmas present and not knowing what was inside. But seeing the completed book and book cover did make me cry. (I'll post the video soon).

Now it's all done we can take a sigh of relief, but we can't take a complete rest because we are now at the beginning of a new and exciting journey that could be one of heartbreak or elation. 
What will the public think?!

I love the Anokye story and know that it is the greatest story in the world, but will parents like to read our retelling of it to their children?
I hope so. My son likes it, but then he has been on the whole journey with us right from the beginning.

Anokye Book of rhymes came about as game between Louise Lynas (assistant producer) and my 9 year old son Seren. Both have a talent for rhymes. One day they started to rhyme the Anokye story and I was gripped at how good it was. And Louise agreed to start  writing the book, 
Seren has remained a keen critic and continues to write raps about food and the environment.

Our aim in writing the book of rhymes is to make the Anokye history accessible to all ages. We believe that being playful and allowing our imagination to guide our exploration of  history is the key to unlocking the creativity in children.

The African child never sees themselves in fiction or as hero during his or her formative years and this is wrong.
The African child can only grow up to achieve his or her full potential if the heroes they are exposed to is just like them and the iconic stories  and heroes they aspire to be are from their own culture. As artists, educators, filmmakers and writers we have a duty to rework our legends and make them relevant for future generations.
For me as a parent and an African there is nothing more important than instilling a love of nature, a love of freedom, a love of unity and a drive to dream big in the coming generations.

I know that Okomfo Anokye has something to tell our children about self actualization, freedom and unity.
The fruits of our labour will be born not now, but in the future
through our children and their children’.
(Louise & Akua in right hand corner  going to greet Asantehene the day Ex President Kuffour brought back Nana Yaa Asantewaa's stool from the UK where it taken to after  NanaYaa Asantewaa surrendered to the British after the war for the Golden Stool in 1900 ) 


3 comments:

  1. You have a very laudable idea.Your vision to make the Anokye history accessible to all ages is certainly an excellent one. It's high time more authors focused on the younger generation of readers with both non-fiction and fiction.

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  2. Hello Akua,

    My name i Adepa Safo. I run a Foundation called the Global African Child Foundation, in Ghana. I really appreciate what you're doing. The Foundation seeks to do this and more. I like your line about, "The African child never sees themselves in fiction or as hero during his or her formative years and this is wrong.
    The African child can only grow up to achieve his or her full potential if the heroes they are exposed to is just like them and the iconic stories and heroes they aspire to be are from their own culture. As artists, educators, filmmakers and writers we have a duty to rework our legends and make them relevant for future generations".

    I hope that we can do something together, in the near future.

    God bless and keep the hope alive!

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