Baba Wagué Diakité,
A Gift from Childhood: Memories of an African Boyhood
Groundwood Books, 2010.

Ages 9-12 and up

Award-winning artist, author, musician and storyteller Baba Wagué Diakité, along with his artist wife Ronna Neuenschwander and their two daughters, now divides his time between his native Mali and Portland, Oregon. He’s a long, long way from the village life that his memoir A Gift from Childhood recounts, and yet there is this similarity: Diakité still moves between worlds, just as he did in boyhood when he was sent to the country for a traditional education under the guidance of his paternal grandparents.

Told in a rambling, folk-story style, Diakité’s narrative is generously illustrated with full page, four-color reproductions of his paintings and with his black-and-white designs in the bògòlanfini, Malian mud cloth tradition. His memoir traces the changes he undergoes, beginning as a naïve city schoolboy fresh from his widowed mother’s arms and emerging as a confident adolescent who can catch fish with his bare hands.

During his years in the village, Diakité survives malaria, learns the healing properties of local herbs from his Grandmother Sabou, and sadly watches her fail to save her own little granddaughter from an unnamed malady. Grandmother Sabou’s own fables and the family history are reported in full, italicized passages, along with such wisdom as that it’s “impossible to live through Tuesday when it’s only Monday.” When the time comes, Diakité, with other boys his age, undergoes ritual circumcision, a month-long rite of passage into manhood in the Malian culture that is described in some detail.

While this memoir’s lively writing and art will capture the imagination of middle grade readers, slightly older children will appreciate Diakité’s quirky storytelling more and will likely be less daunted by the account of his coming-of-age ritual. All children will be drawn to the wisdom of the Mali elders and their gentle ways of transmitting their culture to the next generation.

The inclusion of a map of Mali and a glossary of Mali terms, along with descriptions of Diakité’s art techniques, would have added further interest, but this beautifully illustrated glimpse into traditional Mali society, where children don’t go to school until after they are “educated,” will be a fascinating revelation to youthful readers.

Charlotte Richardson
March 2011