Akata Witch

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

I chose this book. I picked this book. I wanted this book. I ordered this book based upon its stellar reviews. One review in particular came from Ursula Le Guin and I was sold. Two copies please. I didn’t wait to read it. I was impatient to read something new and special and my choice.

I devoured the first 55 pages and I was so excited. Here is something new! The book’s heroine is Sunny. She lives in Nigeria with her mother and father and two older brothers. The rest of her family is Igbo Nigerian, but Sunny was born in America. The family moved back to Nigeria when Sunny was nine. If that doesn’t make her different enough, she is also albino. Her afro is blond, her skin is a yellow-white and her eyes are hazel. Her far from normal existence is about to make a change to the extraordinary and two friends are bringing her on the journey.

Sunny attends a regular school. There is a boy in her class named Orlu who is regularly rather quiet – the smart, quiet type. Until the day that Sunny’s classmates decide to jump her after classes. They beat her up because she out-shown them in their school work and the teacher decided to make an example out her – a shining student. Orlu comes to her aid.

Through Orlu, Sunny meets Chichi, a very quirky girl who does not attend school, does not wear sandals, and lives in a small mud hut with an even stranger mother, a woman most believe to be a witch. Chichi is the opposite of Orlu. She is loud and speaks her mind even without being asked. Chichi is confident and mischievous. She doesn’t ask first, but is rather a spontaneous instigator – the kind of person who makes things happen, sometimes before their time.

Both Orlu and Chichi recognize a certain something special and kindred about Sunny. If Orlu had his way, they would have gently invited Sunny into their unique circle, but no, Chichi has to have her way. Quick and dirty is how she operates. Before Sunny realizes what is happening, she is taking a binding oath of silence. The oath prevents her from sharing certain information with her family.

The information – Sunny is a person called a Leopard because of her true mystical, magical ability, just like Orlu and Chichi. Leopard Person is the term used in West Africa for someone we, in America, would call a witch or wizard. Unfortunately, no one else in her family is a Leopard. They are all Lambs. So Sunny was not raised knowing about the Leopard Folk. Sunny is about to get a crash course!

Now. Page 56. We meet Sasha, an African American from Chicago. He is a leopard who has been sent to Nigeria because he has caused too much trouble at home. He completes our quartet. He also brings me cringes because of his language. There are very few bodily expletives in this book. There are multiple curses – “goddamn”. And I simply cannot approve. I realize that there are children who talk this way. I don’t approve. I understand that many children are exposed to this language and worse by their parents. I don’t approve. I’m relatively certain that Young Adult will be inheriting Children’s two copies.

In addition and swaying our decision is the novel’s bad guy, Black Hat Otokoto. He is a ritual, serial killer. He kidnaps, maims and kills little children. He takes their eyes, their ears, their lives in order to bring Ekwensu through to our world from the spirit world. Ekwensu “is what Satan is to Christians, but more real, more tangible.” But then I compare Black Hat to Lord Voldemort and maybe I’m being too sensitive. After all, the Newbery winner this year also contained a serial killer.

Mild Spoiler Alert…

I might have been able to talk myself past the bad language, kind of, sort of, maybe. Okay, no. But the further I read, the less enthusiastic I found myself. This book is an Afro-centric Harry Potter. Examples. Sunny is a Free Agent, a Leopard born of Lamb parents. Let’s see… Hermione is a witch born of Muggle parents. The kids ride the magical “funky bus” to get around. Remember the bus in Harry Potter with the talking shrunken head? Voldemort killed Harry’s parents and inadvertently gave Harry power over him. Black Hat Okokoto killed Sunny’s grandmother and inadvertently gave Sunny power over him. Both Harry and Sunny were raised without knowledge of their magical inheritance. Leopard people use juju knives rather than wands, but the knives choose their “owner”. They have to learn spells, charms, powders. They advance by levels. There is even a Leopard sport that everyone gathers to watch.

I could go on, but this has already gotten wordy. Parents – it is your choice. If your child has been clamoring for more Harry Potter, it is an option…