For Teachers
Ideas for using the book in classrooms and libraries.
Ways to use the book
The book pairs short cultural information with hands-on coloring, which makes it easy to bring into conversations about geography, art, and world cultures. Educators might:
- Find each cloth tradition on the book's textile map of Côte d’Ivoire.
- Compare how different cloths are made — woven, painted, dyed, or made from bark.
- Read a cloth's Quick Facts and Did You Know aloud before students color the matching page.
- Invite students to create a pattern with the Design Your Own Cloth activity.
- Try the free Cloth Puzzle on the Activities page with your class — more activities unlock when the book launches.
Free Teacher Guide & Classroom Activity Packet
A five-lesson unit for grades 3–6 (ages 8–12), with student worksheets, a teacher answer key, and assessment support. These materials are free for educators — classroom teachers, librarians, and homeschool educators — and are shared on request.
Requests are open now. We’ll send the materials once the book is available.
Using the materials across several classrooms or sites? Contact us about a school-wide license.
Our approach
to accuracy
Côte d’Ivoire’s textile traditions are living traditions. They have changed over time, traveled between communities, and been shaped by neighboring peoples, trade, ceremony, family knowledge, and individual artists.
For that reason, one cloth may appear in different colors or patterns, and cultural traditions do not always fit neatly inside modern regional boundaries.
The information in this book was carefully researched. Where historical documentation of a particular design is limited, we have said so rather than presenting an artistic interpretation as a documented historic pattern.
Our goal is not to suggest that one illustration represents every version of a textile tradition. It is to introduce young readers to the people, places, skills, and stories behind these remarkable cloths.
Sources & Further Learning
This book was researched using cultural heritage records, academic studies, encyclopedias, and Ivorian news and cultural sources. Web sources were consulted in 2026.
For the whole book
Korhogo
- 01Encyclopædia Britannica. “Korhogo.”
- 02Whitworth University Art Collection. Korhogo cloth, catalog record.
- 03Brown University. “Off the Roll: Korhogo Textile (Senufo).”
Baoulé
- 01Ministère du Tourisme de Côte d’Ivoire. “Le village de tisserands de Bomizambo.”
- 02Rezo Ivoire. “Bomizambo, la cité du pagne Baoulé.”
Malinké (Dalaba)
- 01Agence Ivoirienne de Presse (via Djasso). “Dalaba 2021 : Odienné célèbre son pagne traditionnel.” May 2021.
Abron
- 01Journal du Nord-Est ivoirien. “Kanguélé : le pagne traditionnel abron en perte de vitesse.” September 2015.
- 02Petit Futé. “Kanguélé.”
Dyula (Waraniéné) and Korhogo
- 01Soro, Batjeni Kassoum. “Le pagne tissé de Waraniéné : valeurs d’un savoir-faire.” Akofena, no. 9, vol. 1, August 2023, pp. 3–12.
- 02Samuel, Isaac. “The empire of Kong (ca. 1710–1915).” African History Extra, July 2024.
Bété Tapa
- 01Wikipédia. “Bétés.”
- 02Encyclopædia Universalis. “Tapa.”
- 03Wikimedia Commons. “Tenue d’apparat Bété lors d’un mariage.” Photo by Nigkru, CC BY-SA 4.0.
N’zima (Kita) and the Abissa Festival
- 01UNESCO World Heritage Centre. “Historic Town of Grand-Bassam.”
- 02Fraternité Matin. “Grand-Bassam : L’Abissa ou le Nouvel an pour le peuple N’zima Kotoko.” September 2015.
- 03Rezo Ivoire. “L’origine et la célébration de l’Abissa.”
Yacouba (Gbahou)
- 01Le Patriote. “Mode et tradition : le ‘Boubou Yacouba’.” January 23, 2009 (Abidjan.net).
- 02Africanews. Report on traditional Dan cloth in Man, January 19, 2018.
- 03Rezo Ivoire. “La beauté chez les Goh, peuple de l’Ouest montagneux.”
To keep exploring
- Musée national du Costume, Grand-Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire
- Fatou Keïta, L’Abissa — a picture book for children about the Abissa Festival
- Véronique Tadjo, Queen Pokou: Concerto for a Sacrifice — several retellings of the Baoulé founding legend
- Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC