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GOING FURTHER
Pre-reading
 1 Do you know what a graphic novel is? Write your ideas in 
your notebook. Then, in pairs, compare your notes.
 2 Observe the book’s title below. What is it about? In pairs or 
small groups, exchange your ideas.
 3 Look at the information given at the book review. How 
many pages are there in Angola Janga? Who’s the 
graphic novel’s author?
Personal answer.
Personal answer.
426 pages. Marcelo D’Salete.
Reading
4 Read the text and check if your answer to activity 2 was correct.
4. O livro é um romance grá� co 
que conta histórias de fugas de 
pessoas escravizadas.
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https://www.npr.org/2019/06/16/732461804/angola-janga-tells-the-story-of-brazils-runaway-slave-communities
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‘Angola Janga’ Tells The Story Of Brazil’s
Runaway Slave Communities
June 16, 2019 – 7:00 AM – ET
ETELKA LEHOCZKY
Sometimes the greatest stories are forever out of reach. Such is the 
case with innumerable tales of the mocambos, communities of runaway 
slaves that took root in the jungles of Brazil in the 1600s. And such is the 
case with the stories that make up Marcelo D’Salete’s Angola Janga. In 
this massive graphic novel, D’Salete relates the history of the villages 
that provided havens for freedom-seeking runaways – and presented a 
perennial threat to the whole institution of slavery in Brazil. Working in 
black and white, mixing nonfi ction and fi ction, D’Salete aims to capture 
the lives and confl icts of the vast spectrum of individuals the mocambos 
touched: slaves, runaways, slave hunters, free-born village dwellers and 
confl icted leaders defying astonishing odds to keep their people free.
D’Salete focuses on Palmares, a collection of more than a dozen 
settlements that “at its peak ... comprised more than 20,000 people.” 
(“Angola Janga,” or “Little Angola,” was the inhabitants’ name for it.) 
D’Salete gets the 20,000 number, along with the rest of his information about the settlements, from 
a huge collection of sources he lists at the end of the book and references throughout. These, 
along with existing fi ctional treatments he mentions in the afterword (including three other graphic 
novels), attest to centuries of fascination with the mocambos. […]
NPR. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2019/06/16/732461804/angola-janga-tells-the-
story-of-brazils-runaway-slave-communities. Accessed on: Aug. 14, 2020. 
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Angola Janga
Kingdom of Runaway Slaves
by Marcelo D’salete
Hardcover, 426 pages
BOOK REVIEWSREVIEWS
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 5 The text is part of Etelka Lehoczky’s review for Angola Janga. Choose what appears in the 
fragment you read. Use your notebook.
A A summary of the story. X
B Lehoczky’s grade about the book. 
C Information like author, title, number 
of pages. X
Post-reading 
 9 Do you agree with the book review that villages like 
Palmares presented a threat to slavery in Brazil? 
Why (not)? Talk to your classmates about it.
 10 Go back to Read on and answer orally: Whose voice from 
the poem does Angola Janga represent?
9. Personal answers. Possible 
answer: Yes, I do, because 
slaver owners were worried 
about losing their slave labor. 
Acate respostas em portu-
guês para esta atividade, con-
forme a turma. 
10. Great-grandmother’s and 
grandmother’s voices.
 10
Marcelo D’Salete é autor de histórias em 
quadrinhos, ilustrador e professor. Para 
conhecer mais sobre ele e suas obras, acesse:
• D’SALETE, M. Cumbe, Marcelo D’Salete, 
quadrinhos. Disponível em: 
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=QZRkxjP7lP8&feature=emb_title.
• D’SALETE, M. Lançamento de Angola Janga – vídeos. 
Disponível em: https://www.dsalete.art.br/videos.html.
• D’SALETE, M. Marcelo D’Salete. Disponível em: 
https://www.dsalete.art.br/bio.html.
Acesso em: 16 ago. 2020.
Tale: fábula, história inventada ou 
difícil de acreditar
Make up: inventor
Dweller: habitante
Defy: desafi ar 
Astonishing odds: difi culdades 
surpreendentes
Settlement: assentamento
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D Characteristics of the cover and the 
colors used in the story. X
E The author’s feelings about the story. 
 6 Read the text again and write if the following sentences are T (true) or F (false). Use your notebook.
A D’Salete’s book is about a sanctuary for fugitive slaves looking for freedom. T
B Palmares is the main mocambo described in the book. T
C According to D’Salete, “Angola Janga” means the “Big Angola”, with 20,000 inhabitants. F
D “Angola Janga” is a nonfi ction graphic novel. F
E The author used a big selection of sources for his writing. T
F D’Salete’s graphic novel is colorful. F
7 Answer the following questions in your notebook according to the book review. 
A Who were the people joined by the mocambos?
B Is Angola Janga D’Salete’s only novel?
 8 Search the book review for the words the author used for the vocabulary below. Use a 
dictionary if necessary. Copy them in your notebook.
A Fugitive runaway B Sanctuary haven C Captive slave D Servitude slavery
7a. Slaves, runaways, slave hunters, free-born 
village dwellers and con� icted leaders.
b. No, it isn’t. He has wrote three other graphic 
novels according to the review.
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