The Banana-Leaf Ball: How Play Can Change the World - Hardcover

by Katie Smith Milway (Author), Katie Smith Milway (Illustrator)

Separated from his family when they were forced to flee their home, a young East African boy named Deo lives alone in the Lukole refugee camp in Tanzania. With scarce resources at the camp, bullies have formed gangs to steal what they can, and a leader named Remy has begun targeting Deo. Then one day a coach gathers all the children to play soccer. Though Deo loves soccer and has even made his own ball out of banana leaves, he's unsure at first about joining in when he sees Remy on the field. But as Deo and the other boys get drawn into the game, everything begins to change. Their shared joy in playing provides the children --- including Remy --- with a sense of belonging. "Ball by ball, practice by practice, children who were once afraid of each other laugh together," the book explains, and "no one feels so alone anymore."

Author Biography

Katie Smith Milway, a native of Vancouver, B.C., has coordinated community development programs in Africa and Latin America for Food for the Hungry; consulted on village banking in Senegal with World Vision and was a delegate to the 1992 Earth Summit. She has written books and articles on sustainable development and is currently a partner at nonprofit consultancy The Bridgespan Group, based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Shane W. Evans is the illustrator of many picture books for children, including The Way a Door Closes, a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award winner; Underground, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; My Brother Charlie, a NAACP Image Award winner; We March and Lillian's Right to Vote, Jane Addams Award winners; as well as Chocolate Me! and Mixed Me! He has exhibited his art in West Africa and Paris, as well as in Chicago, New York, and other major U.S. cities. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where he runs Dream Studio, a community art space.