Recommendations from our site
“Nnedi Okorafor has an exceptionally creative mind (which anyone who has read any of her other books will already know) and in Akata Witch she created a stunning world skilfully interwoven with Igbo mythology.” Read more...
Best West African Fantasy Books for Teenagers
Efua Traoré, Children's Author
“It’s about a 13-year-old girl called Sunny who was born in America and lives in Nigeria. She is of Nigerian heritage, and also has albinism. She discovers she has magical powers, and is initiated into a magical society and trained for this new second life as an Akata witch… It’s been compared to a Nigerian Harry Potter series, which I think does it a terrible disservice. The magical world that Sunny and her friends belong to is so idiosyncratic, so vibrant, so dangerous and deadly.” Read more...
The Best Boarding School Novels
Anbara Salam, Novelist
Perhaps the most promising result of the huge amount of interest in magic/witches/wizards that came out of Harry Potter is books that are somewhat like it, but written in a completely different magical tradition. While Anglo-Saxon magic/witchcraft is about wands, broomsticks and pointy hats, there have been a number of books that build a story based on other types of magic, like juju, which comes from Nigeria/West Africa. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor is about a girl called Sunny who is Nigerian and discovers she has special powers, before saving the world with her three friends.
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