Ethiopia: the Roof of Africa by Jane
Kurtz. Photographs by Christopher Kurtz (1991) Reading Level: Ages
4-10. 127 pages. Dillon Press. ISBN: 0875184839.
This book is not
available from the publisher but is available in many school and public libraries.
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Ethiopia: The Roof of Africa
by Jane Kurtz
Describes the geography, history, culture, economy,
and people of the ountainour country in northeastern Africa troubled in
recent years by drought, famine, and civil unrest. This book is a
valuable resource for information about this country up to the 1990s.
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"Kurtz conveys a lively sense of reality through concrete
descriptions of such aspects of Ethiopian life as markets, peasant
associations, legends, food, and festivals." -- School Library Journal
Classroom Connections
- Borrow the Ethiopia Box from Jane.
She'll send it to you just for the cost of shipping. It includes
something to see, smell, taste, touch, hear from Ethiopia, including
things that fit especially well with her other books.
- Read other books about Ethiopia. Some books for children that Jane recommends are these:
- The Perfect Orange: A Tale from Ethiopia by Frank Araujo (Rayve Productions, 1994).
- Day of Delight: A Jewish Sabbath in Ethiopia by Maxine Rose Schur (Dial, 1994).
- Enchantment of the World: Ethiopia by Dennis Fradin (Children's Press, 1988).
- Ethiopia...in Pictures by Daniel Abebe (Lerner, 1988).
- Examine the Photographs:
The photographs in this
book were taken by Jane's brother, Christopher, who was teaching in
Ethiopia at the time the book was written.
- See if you can find the photo that students often say is just like in The Lion King .
- Look for the photo of the waterfall where Jane made up
many, many of her childhood stories. She would make boats from leaves
or wood, put plant "people" on them, and sail them down the river while
telling stories about them.
- Use other photos as background information for reading Jane's books and/or working on illustrations.
- About Africa -- the Continent:
Africa is a huge continent. When studying Africa, it's good to look for
some things that make each country unique (see "Reading the World:
Africa" from Book Links, January 1996). Ethiopia, right across the Red
Sea from the Middle East, has a mixture of African and Arabic cultures,
ethnic groups, and languages. Ethiopia was the only African country
that wasn't colonized (except briefly under the Italians during World
War II) and the only African country to develop its own system of
writing.
- Look for Faces: The Magazine About People, February, 1995 for an issue on Ethiopia.
- A helpful regional approach to Africa is taken in the series African Kingdoms of the Past
by Kenny Mann (Dillon Press). It's a beautifully designed series with
great visual resources. Each book looks at a region--its timeline,
history, stories, languages, artifacts.
- About Maps:
- Flat maps have to distort the shape and size of the continents
because the maps flatten out all the curves of the earth's surface.
Most of the maps used in the United States are based on the Mercator
Projection which makes Greenland and Africa look about the same size.
Actually, Greenland is 2.1 million square km. and Africa is 30 million
square km. In fact, the whole United States, plus India, plus
Argentina, plus Europe, plus New Zealand, plus China would fit inside
the continent of Africa. See if you can find a map based on the Peters
Projection, which distorts the equatorial and polar regions but shows
the size of Africa more truly.
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