On the Road in Africa is a great book, about a lady named Mama O who cares for baby African animals when they lose their mothers. This book follows Mama O on a road trip to get food for the animals. The book takes the reader through African terrain, markets, and the animal orphanage where Mama O keeps the orphaned monkeys, buffalo, and cheetah. The greatest thing about this book is the many African words the reader will learn. The author uses many African words to describe objects throughout the book, and has included a translation list in the front of the book.

Last semester at Cameron University I went on a field trip with the fifth grade class I was observing for my Intro to Teaching class. We went to see the Oklahoma born author of On the road in Africa, Kim Donner discuss how she writes and illustrates the books she writes. I was lucky enough to hear Mrs. Donner read this book out loud. She used a bongo drum and sang the words in the book as if the book was a song she had written. It was very impressive and I vowed to buy the book for my daughter and stepson. Mrs Donner also told us that On the Road in Africa is based on a lady named Chryssee Perry Martin, who is an honorary warden of the Kenya Wildlife Service in the Nairobi Animal Orphanage. Chryssee has helped raised hundreds of African animals. Mrs. Donner was fortunate enough to travel to Africa to Meet Chryssee to research this book. On the road in Africa is a great book to read to children to make them aware of a different culture. The children will also learn words in a foreign language and about the various animals that live in Africa.

In a class room environment children could draw pictures of the African objects in the book, then write the English and African word under the object. Students could also research the different animals and make dioramas of the animals environment.