The book is an introduction to an astonishing, little-known history, and it’s a vital, refreshing educational tool, packed with suggestions for games and activities that reinforce the history lessons. For instance, readers will learn how to play the "Trading Game," a life-or-death activity for the people who once practiced it. MALI: LAND OF GOLD AND GLORY is an invaluable entrée into a place and a time that deserve more attention, especially among young people. "African-Americans were not dropped out of the sky with slavery as their beginning," said Andrew Prophett, the esteemed educator responsible for the development of Virginia’s new innovative elementary-level Mali curriculum. "That is not history."
Mali IS history, a civilization worthy of being studied along with those of Rome, Greece, Egypt, China, and India. MALI: Land of Gold and Glory makes that possible, bringing to life "a land of grand palaces and gold." As the narrator-griot sings in the book. "It was called the Bright Country and that was the way it was—a bright and shining place."