Kantiga Finds the Perfect Name (English)

Kantiga Finds the Perfect Name is a beautiful tale, infused with some magic that reimagines a popular African folklore for the modern child. “There was once a beautiful little girl with a heart as big as her name, Kantiga. But Kantiga did not like her name.” Hearing this, her Gogo tells her a magical family tale inspired by the folklore of the magical cracked clay pot. The magical clay pot is appears to be useless because it is cracked and broken, yet we learn how this flaw that makes it more than perfect. Follow this beautiful tale, full of colour and folklore, as Kantiga tries to find the perfect name and on the journey learns a bit more about who she is and where she is from.

With her journey as a reader beginning with a grand tour and introduction of the Johannesburg City library at the age of 5, Mabel Mnensa is an avid reader, poet, children’s author and dreamer with roots in Malawi. Through the Kantiga series, Mabel celebrates Pan-African stories, traditions and histories with magical children’s bedtime stories reimagined from the stories she read and was told growing up. Chantelle and Burgen Thorne are internationally publishedillustrators with over 20 years experience in educational publishing. The two are now focussing on picture books for children with several more titles being released internationally this year, because the magic of children’s books is that they’re not just for kids. Avid bookworms themselves, they take great delight in the visual storytelling of picture books, art and text working together, every word and every image adding to the reader’s experience. Both have fond memories of being read to as children and this inspires them to make their illustrations as engaging, honest and relevant to young readers as they possibly can – what a wonderful way to spend one’s working day! They are represented by Paul Moreton of the fabulous Bell Lomax Moreton agency worldwide.

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