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Children's Nonfiction General

Mimi's Village

And How Basic Health Care Transformed It

by (author) Katie Smith Milway

illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Publisher
Kids Can Press
Initial publish date
Aug 2012
Category
General, Africa, Girls & Women
Recommended Age
8 to 12
Recommended Grade
3 to 7
Recommended Reading age
8 to 12
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781554537228
    Publish Date
    Aug 2012
    List Price
    $19.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781771381628
    Publish Date
    Jan 2013
    List Price
    $18.99

Classroom Resources

Download Teacher’s Guide

Where to buy it

Description

In this fictionalized story about a real humanitarian problem facing many countries in the developing world today, readers meet Mimi, an ordinary girl from an ordinary family in Africa. When her younger sister, Nakkissi, gets very sick after drinking unsterilized water from the stream, Mimi learns firsthand how quickly things can go terribly wrong. With no health care provider close by, her whole family must travel on foot to a nearby village to see the one nurse who can provide the medical care her sister desperately needs. Though Mimi is relieved when her sister recovers, she wishes they could get a health clinic in her own village. Several months later, it is Mimi herself who becomes the catalyst to make her wish come true. Author Katie Smith Milway, a former aid worker in Africa, has written the best kind of global education book for children, filled with information that engenders empathy and understanding. The picture-book format with captivating artwork by award-winning illustrator Eugenie Fernandes brings Mimi's story to life. Along with further information, a glossary and a map, an addendum includes suggestions for how young children can get involved, highlighting how inexpensive, easy-to-make improvements can transform people's lives. This terrific book would find many uses in elementary classrooms, including lessons on African culture, African family life and the basic health care needs of people everywhere. Most important, it offers opportunities for inspiring discussions about compassion, volunteerism and making a difference in one's own community and the larger world community.

About the authors

Katie Smith Milway is the bestselling, award-winning author of One Hen and several other books in the CitizenKid collection. She has served on the board of World Vision US, coordinated community development programs in Latin America and Africa for Food for the Hungry International, written several adult books on sustainable development, and advised NGOs and social impact funders in her roles at The Bridgespan Group, MilwayPLUS and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A graduate of Stanford University and INSEAD, Katie has spent more than three decades working on sustainable development issues. She is based in Seattle, Washington, and Bowen Island, British Columbia. Free curriculum related to One Hen themes can be found at www.onehen.org.

Katie Smith Milway's profile page

Née en 1943, près de New York, EUGÉNIE FERNANDES puise son admiration pour les animaux et la nature dans les souvenirs de son enfance. Son inspiration, elle la doit en grande partie à son père, illustrateur de bandes dessinées, avec qui elle passait de longues heures dans son studio. En 1965, elle obtient son diplôme de l'école des Arts Visuels de New York et commence alors sa carrière en tant qu'illustratrice. Eugenie a écrit ou illustré plus de 80 livres dont Grosse journée, petite souris! et Caféolait s'en va-t-en ville. Elle vit aujourd'hui dans le sud de l'Ontario et travaille depuis sa maison dans son studio surplombant un lac et la forêt environnante.

 

 

EUGENIE FERNANDES loved exploring the outdoors and making her own little books when she was young. As an adult she has combined these interests by creating books such as Ribbon Rescue, The Tree that Grew to the Moon, Waves in the Bathtub, One More Pet, and Grandpa Dan's Toboggan Ride.

 

 

Eugenie is part of a very artistic family. Her father was a comic book illustrator, her husband, Henry Fernandes, is a picture book illustrator who collaborated with her on the book Ordinary Amos and the Amazing Fish, and her two children are also artists. Eugenie lives near Peterborough, Ontario, where she works in a studio that is surrounded by water and woods.

 

Eugenie Fernandes' profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Red Cedar Award, BC Young Reader's Choice
  • Winner, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Starred Selection, Canadian Children's Book Centre
  • Winner, Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street Children's Book Committee
  • Short-listed, Hackmatack's Children's Choice Book Award

Editorial Reviews

... a great tool to use to expand children's worldviews about the basic needs of other kids around the world.—School Library Journal

With bright, lively acrylic illustrations, the story is followed with several informative spreads, including ways that young readers can help create change.—Booklist

Readers will take much away from this, including an appreciation for their health-care resources and a desire to make a difference in the world.—Kirkus Reviews

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