Middle-grade books set in Africa

Children's books that celebrate African civilization

There aren't enough middle-grade books set in Africa, and those that are most often cited tend to focus on slavery, war, or poverty. Those are certainly important topics for young readers to learn about, but they should be balanced by works celebrating the beauty and richness of African civilizations.

Such books do exist, and they are worth seeking out. Not only do they dispel stereotypes about life in historical and modern Africa, but they reintroduce us to a neglected dimension of our heritage.

This list includes works of contemporary and historical fiction set in Africa, for readers aged 11 and up. They are set in a wide variety of times and places. What they have in common is a celebration of rich and diverse cultures that go beyond what we often see in news about Africa. Hand one of these to a young reader in your life, or better yet, read it together.

The Song of Tiyya

Julia Kurnia · 2026

A historical fiction mystery set at the height of the Mali Empire in 14th-century West Africa, about an abandoned princess and an apprentice bard who team up to investigate a plot to assassinate the king, Mansa Musa. This book depicts the cultural richness of a great premodern African civilization before the arrival of Europeans.
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The Leopard Behind the Moon

Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev · 2021

A fantasy adventure inspired by traditional village life in Liberia, this story follows a boy who sets out with his friends to hunt the leopard that killed his father.
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A Girl Named Disaster

Nancy Farmer · 2012

Eleven-year-old Nhamo lives in a traditional village in Mozambique. When she is given away to be the wife of a cruel man, she must travel through rivers and forest to locate her father's family. She encounters nature and ancestral spirits as she survives in the wilderness, only to find her beliefs clash with the Westernized values of her relatives at the end of her journey.
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The Golden Goblet

Eloise Jarvis McGraw · 1986

A historical fiction mystery set in ancient Egypt, this is both a page-turner and elucidates how ordinary people lived and thought during this historical period.
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Trouble in Timbuktu

Cristina Kessler · 2014

A twin brother and sister from Timbuktu in modern Mali team up to stop the theft of a precious medieval manuscript from their city.
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Children of the Benin Kingdom

Dinah Orji · 2023

In the Edo Kingdom of Benin, Ada lives with her adopted father, a traditional healer, at the edge of the rainforest. When she discovers a dangerous secret, she must venture deep into the forest and reconnect with her mysterious past.
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Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba

Patricia C McKissack · 2000

A fictionalized autobiography of Nzinga, an Angolan queen and warrior who defended her people from the Portuguese in the sixteenth century.
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Our Secret, Siri Aang

Cristina Kessler · 2015

The story of a Maasai girl in Kenya who befriends a rhinocerous mother and baby, and must treck across the brush and confront poachers to defend them.
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