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Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

The moment I heard about this book at the What’s New in Young Adult Literature conference we attend each year, I was enthralled with the concept and looked forward to the moment when we could purchase it and I could get a copy. It has taken me awhile to have the time to read this book but in having the flu last week, the opportunity presented itself and I was able to fall into a new world.  I loved this book not in spite of all of the cultural references that I was unfamiliar with but because of these things. I loved that I got a glimpse into Nigerian culture and that I had to look up words and research some of the setting elements that are presented in this book. It gave me a much better understanding of how whitewashed the book publishing industry is and how bias creeps into society in ways that we don’t even realize. This fantasy takes readers into a realm that is filled with magic, community, and danger and yet seems oddly realistic at the same time. I loved every moment I spent with Sunny and her friends.

Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she’s albino. She’s a terrific athlete, but can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a “free agent” with latent magical power. Soon she’s part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too?

Published inEverybody

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