Fortune's Favored Child

Trade Cloth – $35.00

ISBN 978-0-8101-2973-3

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Contributors

Raouf Mama (Author)

Publication Date

June 2014

Page Count

392 pages

Trim Size

6 x 9

ISBN

0-8101-2973-6

Fortune's Favored Child

Raouf Mama

Raouf Mama is widely beloved by children and adults alike for his books and especially for his African and multicultural storytelling, which incorporates poetry, song, music, and dance.

In Fortune’s Favored Child, the master storyteller tells his own story, beginning in the West African country of Benin. Through a harrowing experience with sickness, an encounter with a clairvoyant traditional healer, and astonishing twists of fortune, the protagonist struggles to uncover his real identity, to get an education, and to make his own way in the world. His journey takes him to the shores of the United States to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan and begin a new chapter in his life.

About the Author

RAOUF MAMA is a Distinguished Professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University. His previous books are Why Monkeys Live in Trees and Other Stories from Benin (Curbstone, 2006), winner of the 2008 National Multicultural Children’s Publication Award; The Barefoot Book of Tropical Tales (2000); Pearls of Wisdom (2001, with Mary Romney); and Why Goats Smell Bad (1998). Mama regularly travels to various parts of the world to work with teachers, education professionals, and children, using storytelling as a multicultural teaching and motivational tool. He has worked in partnership with UNICEF and the School of African Heritage in promoting education and cultural awareness through storytelling.

Reviews

"Fortune's Favored Child is at once inspired and inspiring."

—Gina Barreca, author of Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Co-Education in the Ivy League

"Told in a voice that is distinct for its unwavering stance against tyranny and injustice, and driven by a fiercely passionate hope to get the words right, Mama's story is a great gift."

—Bruce Weigl, author of The Abundance of Nothing (TriQuarterly Books), Finalist for Pulitzer Prize in Poetry

“Rich in humor, sorrow, and thought-provoking plot turns.” —Booklist