A delightful blend of adventure, heart, and Afrofuturism.
A young British Nigerian girl tangles with her hair’s true power.
Onyekachi hates her hair. She wishes there was a way to magically make her mass of gravity-defying, comb-breaking curls and coils behave. Maybe then she would fit in and not draw negative attention. Her overly cautious Mum constantly reminds Onyeka that she needs to blend in and not cause trouble. Onyeka is dutiful except when it comes to her best (and only) friend, Cheyenne, another British Nigerian girl. When Chey nearly drowns at the pool, Onyeka’s hair forms a lifesaving bubble around them. Later, her mother reveals that Onyeka is a Solari, just like her missing father, and decides they must return to Nigeria to find him and help her gain control of her Ike, or powers. Scared and excited, Onyeka arrives at the Academy of the Sun, a Solari boarding school, while Mum heads off alone in search of her father. Unfortunately, Adanna, Onyeka’s new roommate, is cold, rude, and the school’s top student. While Onyeka slowly settles in, tragedy strikes: Her mother goes missing. This first series entry shines brightly as a tale of overcoming emotional scars, gaining confidence in our gifts, and forming new bonds. Onyeka’s journey with her hair, both as the vessel of her magic and as a Black girl, is beautiful to witness. The rich worldbuilding makes the solar-powered Nigerian techno-wonderland feel palpable. The final twist will create a hunger for more.
A delightful blend of adventure, heart, and Afrofuturism. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: June 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66591-261-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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