Diakité's (The Magic Gourd
) illustrated memoir focuses on his childhood in a small Malian village, but also touches on his adult years, including meeting his future wife and moving to Portland, Ore. Four-year-old Baba is sent to his father's hometown of Kassaro to live with Grandma Sabou and Grandpa Samba to learn valuable ranching and farming skills, as well as the Mali tradition of storytelling. Interspersed with Diakité's recounting of his youth (catching catfish with his grandmother, receiving ritual circumcision), are stories about his grandfather's brokering peaceful relations with the French, a blacksmith who stymies Death, and others. “Stories were more than just a learning tool for my cousins and me,” Baba says. “They were like going on an adventure.” Diakité's precise language and vibrant illustrations, created on earthenware tiles, form an engrossing story of community life. Studded with Malian proverbs, metaphors, and morals (“Fortunately, brains do not have any bone. That is what allowed us people to be flexible”), it's a memoir alive with far more voices than just that of the author. Ages 10–up. (Mar.)
