Kofi and His Magic

Meet Kofi, a seven-year-old West African boy who learns how to weave by wiggling strings tied to his toes, “a little like riding a bicycle.” This is how he and his friends create the beautifully colored Kente cloth for which his town, Bonwire, is famous throughout the world. Kofi is not only a weaver, though; he is also a magician. By closing his eyes and opening his mind he calls on the magic of travel, visiting many places such as the Ashanti capital and northern Ghana; his school; the ocean; and a festival—a Durbar—where women priests and wise men draped in rich Kente and gold parade throughout the village.

Maya Angelou’s lively, lyrical story tells of an engaging young boy whose imagination and streak of adventure are as wide as the ocean, and Margaret Courtney-Clarke’s vivid photographs capture daily life within and outside the community. Together, Angelou and Courtney-Clarke weave their story and photographs as deftly as Kofi and his friends do their beautiful Kente cloth.

From the Hardcover edition.