Le voyage de Yao
by Veronique Tadjo
Dans son village du nord du Sénégal, Yao, grâce à ses lectures, rêve de voyages et d'aventures.
Quand il apprend que Seydou Tall, son auteur préféré, sera bientôt à Dakar, il part à sa rencontre.
Et Seydou, ne pouvant laisser seul un enfant si loin de chez lui, décide de le raccompagner.
Commence alors un formidable périple où l'adulte et l'enfant apprennent à se connaître, chacun faisant découvrir à l'autre les secrets de son monde. Un voyage dont naîtra une profonde amitié... et une vocation d'écrivain.
Published: 2019
Originally written in French
Number of pages: ~190
Recommended FSL Programs and Grades
Grade 9/10/11 French Immersion
Race/Ethnic/Geographic Information
Author: Black
Characters: Black
Setting: Dakar
Notes from a teacher-reader
Theme level makes it more suited to grade 11 than 10, but language level could be grade 10
Would be challenging for core students - only a strong grade 12 class
Grade 9 FI could handle
Lots of argot, créole
Book based on a movie
Potential trigger - reference to sexual activity; someone spends the night, no details about it though
Summary - young boy walks from his village to Dakar to see his favourite writer, the writer walks/accompanies the young boy home, it’s a journey
"Be careful when you meet your heroes" message
Stereotypes, essentialism, tokenism - works against these
“Ça va bouleverser les stéréotypes”
Unpack ideas about Africa as a continent and then specific African countries
Lots of moments of joy
Eating food - cooking as love
Reconnecting with culture
Music
Contemporary issues - connecting to your roots, importance of culture/traditions
Learn a lot about Senegalese culture
4-5 week unit
Easy as a whole unit or a book club
190 pages
Movie was good, but liked the book better
Movie stars Omar Sy
Highly recommend!!
Feel free to contact the teacher-reader, Laura Sgambelluri at sgambelluril@hdsb.com if you have questions about this novel.