inside peeks

Book Review: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

Since joining Mali Rising's staff, I've tried to read as many books written by Malians and/or about Mali as I can. Frankly, one doesn't find scads of them here in the U.S.  But I'd been hearing about The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu for a while, and was excited to see a pretty main-stream book that was set in Mali getting some attention.

My Favorite Day

I want to take you all back to my favorite day on my trip to Mali. It was halfway through the week and we stopped in a small village for a meeting. I felt completely out of place among a large circle of people where I was undoubtedly the youngest one there, not to mention only one of two females. I remember digging my sneakers into the red sand to pass the time and eye-balling a few Malian students playing just a few yards away- dying to go say hello. I jumped at my first chance to sneak away from the meeting and cautiously approached two girls that curiously observed from afar.