Book Club Guide: Novels with African Connections

This is a digital product. It will be delivered via email as a PDF.

This literature unit is designed to be used as a book club — rather than closely reading one or two texts, you will read six modern novels that represent contemporary African fiction. (For purposes of this unit, we’re defining any book that reflects on African experiences as contemporary African fiction, regardless of the author’s current hometown.) The goal is to broaden our literary horizons, and so this curriculum is not designed to be a novel study as much as a discussion guide. You could use this unit as an elective, or you could supplement it with written assignments (which this curriculum guide does not include) to make it a full 0.5 credit literature course. (This would work well as an extension to our Year 3: African Literature unit.)

This guide contains discussion questions for:

• Akata Witch
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
• Purple Hibiscus
• White Is for Witching
• The Spider King’s Daughter
• Zahrah the Windseeker

Note that this guide does not include pacing guides, assignments, or grading recommendations.

This is a high school level literature unit, designed for students who are already familiar with the basic elements of literature (plot, character, theme, setting, etc.) and who are comfortable applying those skills to texts. Like most high school level literature curricula, it includes works that could be rated M for Mature. If mature content is a concern for you with your student, I encourage you to pre-read texts to asses your personal comfort level. (I read these books with my own high school student and teach them in high school classes, but comfort levels can be very personal things.) This is a completely secular program.

Because of the nature of digital publications, all sales are final. If you have questions, please ask before you buy!