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by Safiyatou Camara Malloy (Author), Nana Kwadwo Camara-Malloy (Contribution by)
When four-year-old Nana Kwadwo steps off the plane in Guinea, he hears it before he sees anything else - the pulse of the Doundounba rhythm, calling him home before he even knows the word for home. On the winding red road to Kindia, a bird's song becomes a melody, the mountains hum with anticipation, and by the time he and his cousin Bouba arrive, an entire village celebration is already in motion.
This is where the sound lives. Nana meets the djembe, quick and commanding under skilled hands. He meets the balafon, the wooden-keyed storyteller that sings instead of speaks. He meets the three dununs - Dununba, the big bass heartbeat; Sangban, the melodic voice; and Kenkeni, the smallest and quickest - playing together like a family that has never once fallen out of step. And when his own hands finally touch a drum for the first time, the whole village dances harder because of it.
Road to Kindia is Book 1 in the Guinea Series of the Follow the Sound with Nana picture book collection, a richly illustrated journey tracing the African drum from its roots in West Africa across the diaspora. Written with real Guinean traditions, instruments, and language at its heart, this book includes a pronunciation guide, a vocabulary index of the rhythms and instruments introduced, and a hands-on Clap the Pattern activity that lets young readers play the very beat Nana learns to feel.
Intended for children ages 2 to 10.
