2018 saw the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth and this is a wonderful book to introduce children to one of the most inspiring figures of modern times. The text takes the form of questions from Nelson Mandela’s great-grandchildren Zazi and Ziwelene to their Grandma Zindzi. As she answers them, readers learn about Mandela and his years in prison, why he was arrested, what he was fighting for and the joy there was on his release. They’ll understand the hardships his children and family endured, and how they kept themselves strong. They’ll also take away the word ‘ubuntu’ - ‘I am because we all are’. The narrative puts readers at the heart of the story while Sean Qualls’s evocative illustrations reveal even more about Mandela’s fight for fairness and freedom.
Nelson Mandela's two great-grandchildren ask their grandmother, Mandela's youngest daughter, 15 questions about their grandad - the global icon of peace and forgiveness who spent 27 years in prison.
They learn that he was a freedom fighter who put down his weapons for the sake of peace, and who then became the President of South Africa and a Nobel Peace Prize-winner, and realise that they can continue his legacy in the world today. Seen through a child's perspective, and authored jointly by Nelson Mandela's great-grandchildren and daughter, this amazing story is told as never before to celebrate what would have been Nelson's Mandela 100th birthday.
...beautiful and inspiring... A gorgeous and personal tribute to Mandela's legacy. - Kirkus Reviews
Author
About Ambassador Zindzi Mandela, Zazi and Ziwelene Mandela, Zondwa Mandela
Ambassador Zindzi Mandela is a South African freedom fighter, diplomat, writer, speaker, cultural advocate and favourite Grandma. She is the last born child of Mrs Winnie Madikizela- Mandela and President Nelson Mandela, and was only 18 months old when her father went to prison. In 1985, when she was 25 years old, she read Nelson Mandela's famous refusal to accept the offer of conditional release from President P. W. Botha to a packed football stadium in Soweto, saying his words, 'I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free.' The Ambassador lives in Copenhagen where she serves as South Africa's ambassador to Denmark. Zazi Mandela (8) and Ziwelene Mandela (6) are the great-grandchildren of Mrs. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and President Nelson Mandela. Zazi is a storyteller and an aspiring performer. Ziwelene is a storyteller and a maverick. Sean Qualls is an award winning, Brooklyn-based, children's book illustrator, artist and author. He has illustrated a number of highly acclaimed books for children, including Giant Steps to Change The World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis-Lee, Little Cloud and Lady Wind by Toni Morrison and her son Slade, and Before John Was a Jazz Giant, for which he received a Coretta Scott King Illustration Honor. Sean also created the art for Dizzy by Jonah Winter and Skit Scat Raggedy Cat by Roxane Orgill. His work has received two Blue Ribbon citations from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. Qualls has created illustrations for magazines, newspapers and advertisements and his work has been shown in galleries in New York and across the country.
