NuBiAh is a delightful and educational children's book on various prominent leaders throughout Africa's history. From learning about Queen Yaa Asantewa to King Hannibal to even Witch Doctors and Griots, kids from elementary and middle school can learn something valuable from this book. Some pages have pictures of the Queens and Kings and of animal with sentences and could be used to allow kids a time for coloring as you ask them questions about the content. One chapter, dedicated to a Wicked Witch Doctor provides a parable for parents to teach to their kids about drugs and modern transmissible diseases. This parable can be a great way for parents who have not or do not know how to start conversations about these important topics.
Overall, I do highly recommend this book to parents who want to introduce a few historical facts to their children.

*I received this e-book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I think this would be a great book to get younger kids interested in history, and get older kids to dip a toe in. (Older kids might like a more in-depth book, but this one is a great starter). It has wonderful illustrations and encourages kids to go do more research on their own. If you're looking for something more in-depth, packed with facts, then you'd be disappointed in this book.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

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NuBiAh is a nicely presented book, set to educate and empower young people with the stories of Ancient Empires in our world history. I'm sure young children would enjoy it, with the addition of colouring pages, but I think older kids might struggle with the lack of information, historical facts, and with how brief the text actually is. I imagine it would need to be a picture book for pre-school children rather than for kids eager to learn more.

NuBiAh, by Thomas Jones
★★☆☆☆
46 Pages

Let's start with the simple stuff:

Would I read it again?: No
Genre: Children/Middle Grade, Educational, Historical, Empowering


For me, this was a strange book. Yes, it had a positive message, and yes it had nice illustrations and colouring pages for kids. But, it also had religious undertones, an odd ode to Barack Obama at the back, and was lacking the historical facts that I was expecting to find within.

The passages on the Kings and Queens were uber short. Some of the writing about them is vague and not very informative. (e.e. King Hannibal's page talks about how he's the greatest general, but doesn't explain why.) I know that the book encourages kids to go to the library to look up more about these Kings and Queens, but considering the lack of actual information provided, it would be the only real way to learn about why they're great, and what they did to become great.

I found that the spoken word poetry took up more importance in the book than any actual educational material. It tried to educate, but the attempts at rhyming that didn't often work, were jarring and uncomfortable to read. As someone who loves history and has studied the Ancient World, I feel like even a short paragraph more or a bullet point list of achievements could have made it clearer why these Kings and Queens were chosen to be such shining examples of courage and might.

For some reason, the minute I opened the book in my Kindle app, it downloaded Kindle Chinese Characters. Not sure why, or what it did, but the presentation was really nice, regardless. It would make a perfect paperback/hardback for a school classroom, for a school project, or for a child/teen who was interested in learning more about powerful women in history.

My one fault with the presentation was that the font was super tiny on my Kindle, and it somehow worked in reverse. Every time I tried to expand the page or increase the text size, it made it smaller, and using the decrease option made it bigger. But, still not big enough to be comfortable.

I also have to point out some of the typos, like the second sentence in the book's preface (and the blurb) “that scientist and archaeologist” both words/professions need an s on the end. They don't stand on their own. This is actually an issue that runs throughout, as most professions of this type (e.g journalist) are lacking the plural. There are a few other issues with spelling, such as using insure instead of ensure, and things like “at he”. There's also a passage that describes a “Campbell hump”. I would normally hope that these issues are caught before publication, but I'm late getting around to reading this, and the book is already on sale, with these issues.

I do love that the book allows pages for the children to answer questions, make notes, and make it more of their own. It makes it feel like a personal journey, and the pages between stories allow the reader to stop and think about questions that might have been presented to them.

However, as an overall presentation, I'm sorry to say that it didn't stack up to my expectations. The blurb promises “a fun history lesson” what I got was a lot of spoken word poetry that barely skimmed the achievements of these Kings and Queens, and lacked the required editing to make it a book that I would give to my child, or anyone else's if I hoped to educate them. The continued spelling/grammar mistakes is a poor example for children. While the religious undertones made me feel as though there was another purpose to the book. While there were some good points, the failings overtook everything else, for me.

A nonfiction historical book of African Kings and Queens. Each ruler is discussed in terms of their morals, attitudes, and principles. Reading it made me more curious about the different rulers of the empires. It is an excellent book. I enjoyed the introduction to these rulers that I didn’t really know. It’s informative but leaves one wanting to know more. I only wish I had someone knowledgeable to discuss the facts stated in this book. It’s a great read!

This book is about historical African kings and queens. It provides a few historical facts, but then goes off into poetical verses from that person's perspective. It puts emphasis on certain traits that that person had; presumably admirable ones.

I like how this book tries to encourage black children to pursue study in any field that interests them, or they show an aptitude for. I really enjoyed the story about Queen Makeda. And the one about Hannibal had some good moments.

I did not find any of the other stories to be beneficial in any way. The supposed traits to emulate were aggression and ruthlessness, or seduction.

The animal pictures with sentences at the end didn't seem to go with the rest of the book at all.

The part that most annoyed me was the "follow the drum" piece. If it would have said "listen to God's promptings" it would have made much more sense.

Overall, this read like a propaganda pamphlet, telling black children to rise up and empower themselves against... Who?... the desert monster?...the slave traders?

I could never recommend this book to anyone.

I didn’t finish NuBiah. The cover, to me, looked like a children’s nonfiction book or a picture book. It was almost more of a workbook. I’m sure it would be useful in schools, but it wasn’t for me.

Thanks for Netgalley and respecitgve publisher for sending me the copy.

It's highly recommended book for children and even for teenagers to know about heroic Kings and Queens of Africa.
About their qualities and their stuffs.
Inspirational and motivational, Simple and sober.
I've enjoyed it.

Great easy read about some of the men and women who were instrumental in shaping Nubia, and the surrounding countries. I loved the pictures that were included and also the stories about each of the figures that are represented. Kids will eat this up and enjoy the pictures that can be copied and colored.

I am looking forward to sitting down and reading this with my boys!

I loved this book. It was extremely interesting as i knew very little about african folklore, culture or the empires outside the very little well known facts about egyptians. i loved the fact it was interactive for the kids reading to be more involved with the book and i also loved the african language that was used and the positive encouraging messages it gave to kids.

A very educational yet interesting and engaging book of stories, a must for all curious children!