
I had questions from "Why would keeping a leopard cub in the village be dangerous?"
"How could they tell from how the drums played what the Ngola was doing?"
"That was a smart trick they played wasn't it mom, when that man pretended to be bad!"
This book taught us the history of Nzingha, Warrior Queen of the Matamba. It was great to learn about this fierce young lady who became a leader of her people back in the late 16th century. In this story we saw her learn important lessons about who to trust, how to conduct business as equals, and much more. It was quite an interesting read even as I stumbled over variety of names. We got a bit of the history of the battle between the Portuguese and the native people and the absolute horror of the slave trade to Brazil.
"Mom, how could they be so mean to people? Why would they make them work until they died mom?"
Nzingha was a fierce opponent of slavery and worked against it at every opportunity, brokering various peace treaties that did not include the gifting of slaves within them.
An excellent book to read to learn a touch of history about 16th century Africa.
At the end of the boo we learn the rest of the story, with pictures and maps to bring it all to life for young readers.