Writing so that children recognize themselves in their stories August 9, 2026
With her first ebook of children’s stories, Ndatté & Maaba: Tales for growing up with peace and love, Maria Cheikh Ba is betting on children’s literature anchored in our realities. Through her characters, the journalist and screenwriter wishes to transmit values, strengthen self-esteem and offer children stories in which they can recognize themselves.
Writing is never a trivial act. It is above all a political act. This conviction pushed Maria Cheikh Ba to publish an ebook of stories for children entitled “Ndatté & Maba: Tales to grow up with peace and love”. Passionate about writing, the young woman dipped her pen in a cause that is dear to her: transmission.
“Today, I seek to transform this love into a real editorial project, with stories that resemble us, that speak to us and that can leave something positive for the reader,” she explains. For Maria, it is important that everyone, especially children, can find refuge in reading and find themselves there. “There are a lot of beautiful stories for children, but many come from worlds in which the African or Senegalese child does not necessarily recognize themselves,” says the journalist.
Maria Cheikh Ba decides to do what she does best: tell stories. This time, these are not stories of people encountered at the bend of an alley for an interview, a portrait or even a report, but stories that speak to “the children of today” and “the children of tomorrow”. For the author, it is essential to tell our own stories, to make a child dream based on places he knows, first names he hears, landscapes he can actually visit and, above all, to allow him to understand that his world can be magical.
Correcting the past, writing for the future
As a child, the young woman confides that she wanted to recognize herself in the stories that were read to her, or even children who looked like her, who had familiar first names, who lived in landscapes that could be her own, with cultural references.
Today, mother and with experiences to boot, the author wants to rectify the situation by giving the cherubs the chance that she did not have when she was younger. “A child needs to discover the world, but he also needs to discover that his world is worth telling about. When he sees a character who looks like him, speaks like him, comes from an environment close to his own and experiences great adventures, he understands that he too is at the center of a great story,” she says, emphasizing that her ebook is a story intended for little girls and boys.
“Ndatté and Maaba were born from a desire to tell our childhood and our environment differently. I wanted to create two characters that children could get attached to, but above all give them adventures in a Senegal that is not just a setting,” she says.
Composed of a good dose of imagination, this ebook of stories is also a desire for the author to discover places, to transmit values, to tell memories and a certain way of looking at our culture. A priesthood for someone who is also a screenwriter. And as in her scenarios, where we find characters with marked dualities, Maria Cheikh Ba did not want to take the easy route and offers readers two characters (Ndatté and Maaba) with remarkable differences.
“Ndatté and Maaba are different, but their differences become a strength in their adventure. I also wanted to show children that you can be shy, extroverted, sensitive, fiery, reserved or very sure of yourself: no personality is inferior to another,” she maintains.
However, childhood is not a long, quiet river. It is a period of searching for identity and building self-esteem. In this phase, Maria Cheikh Ba considers it essential to accompany the cherubs. Through the character of Ndatté, the author addresses this question with finesse.
Social mirror
Because, for her, it is built very early. “A little girl who learns to love herself, to know her worth and not to constantly compare herself to others, grows up with a different strength. And I find it important to talk to children about this, without waiting for them to become adults to tell them that they have value,” she confides.
“If a little girl closes the book with a little more confidence before opening it, then I will have achieved something,” she adds. “A book is not just a story. It’s also a window on the world, but sometimes it’s a mirror,” adds the woman who writes about personal development, women, childhood and culture.
For Maria Cheikh Ba, this last theme must be at the center of everything. “Culture should not only be preserved in our memories or told orally. It must be written, illustrated, told to new generations. If we don’t tell our stories, others will tell theirs and our children will grow up with these stories,” says the author.
To democratize access to reading, the young woman chose the ebook format. An option far from trivial. For the writing enthusiast, it’s a way of making the book more accessible, of keeping up with the digital age.
“I want this tale to be accessible to everyone. But I would also like the children who read this work to remember that they have the right to dream, to take their place and to believe in themselves,” she hopes.
More than a simple collection of stories, Ndatté & Maaba translates Maria Cheikh Ba’s desire to transmit a heritage through words. A way of reminding us that stories shape imaginations and that every child deserves to grow up by recognizing themselves in the stories that make them dream.
By Arame NDIAYE
