Hello Adventurers!
I just read Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, which tells the story of Sunny Nwazue, a young, American-born Nigerian albino with a difficult home life who is looking for her place in the world. We meet her at a time in her life when she is about to discover her magical powers, her history, and her role in a world that she never knew about before.
This book was recommended to me by a friend when I was looking for something new to read. Although I will read pretty much any genre, I especially love fantasy/adventure, and this turned out to be right up my alley.
The first thing that struck me about Akata Witch was the truly rich and immersive world that Nnedi Okorafor creates. There is such a strong, earthy feel to it, while at the same time taking you beyond the physical world into a spiritual one. Between the exploding tungwas raining guts on the unsuspecting, the awe-inspiring and surprising spirit faces, and the spicy local treats like pepper soup, there’s plenty of sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and even smells that draw you into both the culture of Nigeria and the otherworldly space of the Leopard people. She truly amazes.
Before I read the book, I had heard many people describe it as the ‘black girl version of Harry Potter’, and I can see where they are coming from. Both stories center around a pre-teenaged protagonist being dropped into an overwhelming new world of magic, about which they know nothing. Both characters have a history that connects them to this new world which they need to learn about in order to understand who they really are. Both books gather together a rag-tag group of kids and saddles them with the very dangerous adult problems of this other world. And there are a number of smaller ways that parallels could be drawn (juju knives instead of wands, or leopards and lambs instead of wizards and muggles).
But I wouldn’t say that they’re the same. The world that Sunny is thrown into starts out much darker, much scarier. The Leopard world values knowledge and rewards its community for gaining it but doing so comes at a cost. There is no safe place for these children. The use of magic often has difficult consequences or requires the sacrifice of personal comfort and even safety, but gaining that knowledge is not negotiable and the characters have to be willing to risk it. Both Harry Potter and Akata Witch ask these young children to face evil that is much bigger than them. But while the teachers and mentors of Hogwarts try to shield Harry from that danger, those of Leopard Knocks thrust Sunny and her friends into it full force, accepting that they have a role to play and pushing them to face it, no matter the risk. I wrestled with this theme in the book, and honestly, I still am. On the one hand, I felt anger at those adults for not protecting the kids as they should, but on the other hand, maybe you can’t protect someone from their journey, even if it might be perilous.
There is a truly beautiful aspect of the world of the Leopard people, however, in which the part of someone that non-magical people would consider a hinderance or deformity is actually a source of unique power for each leopard. I won’t go into too much detail, but I felt really comforted and inspired by this, and I think many other readers will also.
Family Friendly Content Considerations: Recommended for later teens and up
Violence and Fear
Discussion of Magic/Juju
What did you think about Akata Witch? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll meet you back here with the next book. (Hint: There will be time travel.)