{"id":7375,"date":"2026-09-24T23:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ultimesgriots.com\/?p=7375"},"modified":"2026-09-24T23:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:21:11","slug":"54-contes-dafrique-quel-tome-choisir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimesgriots.com\/en_US\/54-contes-dafrique-quel-tome-choisir\/","title":{"rendered":"54 Tales of Africa: which book should you choose for your child?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In short:<\/strong> 54 Tales of Africa<\/em> comes in three volumes. Part One<\/strong> and Part Two<\/strong> each contain 27 illustrated tales, one per country, and between them they cover all 54 countries of the continent. The C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire Special<\/strong> volume applies the same rule to a single country, ethnic group by ethnic group. All three can be read independently: there is no set order, you start with the one that holds the country that speaks to you.<\/p>\n

The question almost always comes in the same form: \u201cI\u2019d like to give 54 Tales of Africa<\/em>, but which one?\u201d Or, even more often: \u201cThe tale from Senegal \u2014 which book is it in?\u201d Here\u2019s how to answer without opening all three books.<\/p>\n

The three volumes at a glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Volume<\/th>\nWhat it contains<\/th>\nWho it\u2019s for<\/th>\nCan be read on its own?<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Part One<\/strong><\/td>\n27 illustrated tales, one per country (27 countries)<\/td>\nA first collection, or a child whose family comes from a country in this book<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Part Two<\/strong><\/td>\nThe other 27 countries, same principle<\/td>\nThe companion volume, or a first collection if the family\u2019s country is in it<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire Special<\/strong><\/td>\nOne tale per Ivorian ethnic group, arranged by ethnolinguistic group<\/td>\nA child with roots in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, a classroom, a neighborhood library<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

None of the three is a \u201cbook one\u201d that you have to read before the others. Each volume has its own table of contents and its own tales.<\/p>\n

The principle: one tale per country, 27 per book<\/h2>\n

Africa has 54 countries. The collection travels all the way around them at the rate of one tale per country<\/strong>, in two volumes of 27. That\u2019s what gives the series its title, and it\u2019s also what sets it apart from a collection of \u201cAfrican tales\u201d with no stated origin: here, every tale bears the name of the country it comes from.<\/p>\n

Each volume is illustrated and opens with a table of contents<\/strong>. This detail matters more than it seems: a child who picks their own tale, looking for a parent\u2019s country or simply a title that intrigues them, enters the book differently from a child who is made to start at page 1.<\/p>\n

The two parts are independent. Nothing in Part Two assumes you have read Part One. So you can buy one without the other, or both to have all 54.<\/p>\n

Which book has the tale from\u2026?<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s the question that decides the purchase, and the one no product page answered until now. Here is the breakdown by volume.<\/p>\n

Part One<\/h3>\n

South Africa \u00b7 Algeria \u00b7 Angola \u00b7 Benin \u00b7 Burkina Faso \u00b7 Burundi \u00b7 Cameroon \u00b7 Congo (Brazzaville) \u00b7 Congo (Kinshasa) \u00b7 C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire \u00b7 Egypt \u00b7 Ethiopia \u00b7 Ghana \u00b7 Guinea-Bissau \u00b7 Equatorial Guinea \u00b7 Kenya \u00b7 Mali \u00b7 Mauritius \u00b7 Mozambique \u00b7 Nigeria \u00b7 Uganda \u00b7 Sierra Leone \u00b7 Somalia \u00b7 Sudan \u00b7 Tanzania \u00b7 Tunisia \u00b7 Zimbabwe<\/p>\n

Part Two<\/h3>\n

Botswana \u00b7 Cabo Verde \u00b7 Central African Republic \u00b7 Comoros \u00b7 Djibouti \u00b7 Eritrea \u00b7 Eswatini \u00b7 Gabon \u00b7 Gambia \u00b7 Guinea \u00b7 Lesotho \u00b7 Liberia \u00b7 Libya \u00b7 Madagascar \u00b7 Malawi \u00b7 Morocco \u00b7 Mauritania \u00b7 Namibia \u00b7 Niger \u00b7 Rwanda \u00b7 S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe \u00b7 Senegal \u00b7 Seychelles \u00b7 South Sudan \u00b7 Chad \u00b7 Togo \u00b7 Zambia<\/p>\n

Four neighborly traps, because the names look alike: Niger<\/strong> is not Nigeria; Guinea<\/strong> (Conakry) is neither Guinea-Bissau nor Equatorial Guinea; Rwanda<\/strong> is not Burundi; and South Sudan<\/strong> is not Sudan. In each of these cases, the two countries are in different volumes. The two Congos, on the other hand, are together in Part One.<\/p>\n

And C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire<\/strong> \u2014 it\u2019s in Part One, and on top of that it gets a whole volume of its own, described below.<\/p>\n

C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire Special: one tale per ethnic group<\/h2>\n

After the two books that traveled across the continent, this volume zooms in to the scale of a single country. The tales are arranged according to the four major ethnolinguistic groups<\/strong> of C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire:<\/p>\n