From acclaimed Nigerian storyteller Atinuke, the first in a series of chapter books set in contemporary West Africa introduces a little girl who has enchanted young readers. Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa, amazing Africa, with her mother and father, her twin baby brothers (Double and Trouble), and lots of extended family in a big white house with a beautiful garden in a compound in a city. Anna is never lonely—there are always cousins to play and fight with, aunties and uncles laughing and shouting, and parents and grandparents close by. Readers will happily follow as she goes on a seaside vacation, helps plan a party for Auntie Comfort from Canada (will she remember her Nigerian ways?), learns firsthand what it’s really like to be a child selling oranges outside the gate, and longs to see sweet snow. Nigerian storyteller Atinuke’s debut book for children and its sequels, with their charming (and abundant) gray-scale drawings by Lauren Tobia, are newly published in the US by Candlewick Press, joining other celebrated Atinuke stories in captivating young readers.

The spirited Anna Hibiscus leaves the city to visit her grandparents’ remote village in this sixth adventure in the well-loved series set in contemporary West Africa. Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa, Amazing Africa, in a country called Nigeria, in a city called Lagos. Anna is going with her family and grandfather on a trip to the village where her grandparents used to live, to stay in a house that has long been in their family. The city travelers ride on a packed, sweaty bus through the rainforest, through dusty scrubland, and through fields of bananas and oranges and sugarcane. When the bus lets them off, the village is still a long walk away through the bush. Anna has never been to the bush before—there is no road, no running water, and no electricity! There is plenty to learn, and friends to make too, as Anna’s escapades continue in this charming series from Atinuke and Lauren Tobia.

In the penultimate book in the series, Anna proves what a good friend she can be. Anna Hibiscus is on holiday with Grandmother and Grandfather in the village where they were born. She befriends the local children there and teaches them their ABCs and 123s. When Anna goes to market one day and a boy steals a banana from her, she runs after him. It turns out that the boy is poor and lives alone. Anna and Sunny Belafonte become friends, and when Sunny is taken ill, it is Anna who makes sure he gets the medical help he needs. Happily, Grandfather invites Sunny Belafonte to live with them and be part of their family.

It’s the dry, dusty winter season in Nigeria, and Anna Hibiscus is getting ready to visit her Canadian grandmother in the third adventure of Atinuke’s lively chapter-book series. Anna Hibiscus can’t wait to visit her grandmother in faraway Canada, where she will see snow for the first time! But before she goes, there’s much to do—including searching in a department store for clothes to keep her warm in cold weather and saying goodbye to the big family she loves. Atinuke’s inviting text and Lauren Tobia’s expressive drawings capture Anna’s life with her parents and grandparents, baby brothers and cousins, aunties and uncles during the Harmattan season, when dust from the Sahara Desert blows everywhere. To conserve water, the family uses leftover wash water for their garden, but Anna learns that some children outside their gate have no water at all. Can she do anything to help? “Once again, Anna demonstrates a growing social consciousness,” said Kirkus Reviews of this third adventure in a warm series that is sure to captivate.

Join Anna Hibiscus and her big, bustling family in the second of Atinuke’s engaging illustrated chapter-book series set in modern Nigeria. Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa, amazing Africa. She’s surrounded by so many family members she can’t count them, in a wonderful old house with a garden in a compound in a big city. Follow Anna as she worries about singing a solo for a visiting president, runs away to escape hair-braiding day (and gets in a terrible tangle), enjoys the candles and hide-and-seek games on nights when the electricity goes out (and hates the new noisy generator!), and has an eye-opening visit to the other side of the city, where she learns about spontaneous generosity. Says School Library Journal, “Atinuke . . . manages to balance the contemporary and the traditional with ease”—a talent that, combined with Lauren Tobia’s expressive illustrations, will leave readers rapt and have them looking forward to Anna’s next adventures.

Anna Hibiscus is back from Canada, and so much has changed while she was away! Double and Trouble have learned to run, and Grandfather has gotten older, too. One of the chickens has laid eggs, and Anna hatches her very own chick--Snow White!

Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. And this morning she feels so happy, she thinks she might pop! What is she going to do with all her happiness?