About Suma & Oko's FACE

Most of my enjoyment as an author comes from interacting with readers when I sell my books. I have had meaningful conversations with so many of you about the importance of reading with the kids, positive Black representation, African food (especially okra), and so much more. 

I cherish every interaction, as they have helped me to understand what buyers appreciate the most about Suma & Oko Books. 

So, I have summed up our conversations (your ideas!) into these four values. 

Suma & Oko and their parents are at the heart of all our books. Every story is deliberately and lovingly told to not just show the love and respect between Mum and Dad, but also between the parents and the children. 

We'll be introducing additional characters, to highlight to our readers the importance placed on the extended family in African communities, and the fact that friends become relatives (as we saw with "Auntie" Edem in Suma & Oko and The Stupendous Pot of Okra Soup.  

We want all our books to be filled with adventure. I mean, we want that for all children's books right? 

Sometimes, the escapade can be as simple as going to the store, and other times, it's getting mucky at the back of the garden. Our aim, is to make the stories so exciting for young readers that they'd want to fully immerse themselves into Suma and Oko's world.  

This was an accidental feature that has become one of our key USPs. Our okra soup recipe was supposed to highlight the beauty of Ghanaian cuisine in our first book until a friend said, "hey, why not put a recipe in all your books?"

So this is our guarantee, every Suma and Oko story will finish with somethuing delicious and new to try!  

We are very intentional about what we put in our books. In as much as the fun doesn't stop, education also prevail! That's why we begin every installment with an introduction to Suma and Oko's background and the meaning of their names. 

Using rhyme to tell our stories also encourages the learning of phonics and are a smart way to introduce new vocabulary.