Akata Witch

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Okorafor, Nnedi. 2017. AKATA WITCH. New York: Speak, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN: 9781537924649

Okorafor, Nnedi. 2018.AKATA WITCH. Yetide Badaki, Narr.) [Unabridged Audiobook]. Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/Akata-Witch-Audiobook/B07BNVKP8V?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp&shareTest=TestShare (Original work published 2017.)

PLOT SUMMARY

This story follows a twelve-year-old girl named Sunny, who has never fit in anywhere she went. Her parents and brother are Nigerian, while she was born in the United States; however, they currently live in Nigeria where she continues to not feel like she belongs. Sunny is also albino in an area of Africans, which makes her stick out. She finally makes friends with two other “odd” children and finds out that she was born with gifted magical abilities as a Leopard Person. Alongside her new friends, she learns about magical history, juju, and more, while learning she has a place to fit in. As she develops her powers, she begins to learn that they are not just for fun or for being different, but in fact, she is being recruited to track a serial killer.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Narrator Yetide Badaki was perfect for this book. She speaks with an African accent and dialect that flows with the storyline. She changes her vocal sounds when imitating another character in the book as well. Very sharp, clear sound through Audible. There is no music, but there is an epilogue that is narrated by Badaki as well.

Listening to this book was a bit hard in the beginning as it was very slow and unengaging while the reader starts learning her backstory. However, Okorafor’s use of incorporating the characteristics of fantasy such as magical things that begin to happen with Sunny, quickly starts drawing the reader in. I really became interested in the story once Sunny had experienced a vision of the future.

Okorafor does a good job highlighting the struggles that Sunny goes through while she is being taunted for being both foreign-born and albino. Readers can relate to Sunny for sure if they are new to an area or an outcast. One character that I did not enjoy at all was Sunny’s father and there was not much development behind why he treated her so badly.

This book has a well-developed plot and the main theme is friendship. The author does well highlighting how far Sunny comes in understanding who she really is with the help of her friendship.

She also ties in events that still happen around the world today where women are treated differently than men. For example, in Nigeria, Sunny was not allowed to play soccer with the boys because “girls were made for the sidelines” as the book put it. However, she was able to fight her way in and win the hearts of the soccer team as a valuable player.

Good solid heroine character with realistic elements surrounding the magical elements in play throughout this story. The good theory behind showing others that imperfections make us all different but that we each hold our own power with that uniqueness. 

REVIEW EXCERPTS / AWARDS

Booklist (May 15, 2011)

Flame has always been soothing to 12-year-old Sunny until she sees a vision of the end of the world in candlelight: “Raging fires, boiling oceans and ruptured land, dead and dying people. It was horrible. And it was coming.” The story’s pacing isn’t consistently smooth, but the world Okorafor creates is spellbinding, from its fantastical plants and animals, including sculpture-building “wasp artists” and forceful lightning bugs (“the ones with attitude have the best light”), to its values, which are refreshing inversions of Lamb beliefs: money is earned “by gaining knowledge and wisdom,” for example. Harry Potter fans will find plenty of satisfying parallels here, as will readers who know Okorafor’s previous novels, especially The Shadow Speaker (2007), for which Akata Witch serves as a prequel of sorts. Okorafor’s high-spirited characters, sly humor, archetypal themes, and inventive reworking of coming-of-age journeys will leave readers eager for this series starter’s planned sequels. For more about Okorafor and her imagined worlds, see the accompanying “Story behind the Story” feature.

Horn Book Magazine (May/June 2011)

Sunny is an American born to two Nigerian parents, now living in Nigeria. As an albino, she's used to people staring and calling her a witch, but even so, it's a surprise to learn she is a witch, one of the Leopard People who have the power to work juju. Along with her coven -- quiet Orlu, who can undo juju workings; brash Sasha, sent from America as a punishment for summoning spirits against his sister's harassers in the projects; and sassy Chichi, whose confidence in her own abilities is unrivaled -- Sunny learns to call forth her spirit face and other beginner workings, but a greater challenge is waiting. The coven was assembled by the elders to take on Okotoko the Black Hat, a Leopard serial killer who preys on children. If readers detect echoes of Harry Potter in Sunny's discovery of and development of her powers, they are faint and distant -- Sunny's world of pepper soup, afrobeat music, and canings as a form of punishment is vastly different from tired wands and broomsticks. Sunny's albinism is an integral part of her powers, giving her a foot in two worlds and rescuing the device from sensationalism. Although the battle with the Black Hat seems anticlimactic following a much more character-driven confrontation with fellow students, the audacious personalities, the depiction of a culture with an old tradition of magic that is nonetheless unfamiliar to most Western readers, and Okorafor's uncomplicated, lively writing make this new fantasy offering stand out.

Kirkus Reviews (March 15, 2011)

Who can't love a story about a Nigerian-American 12-year-old with albinism who discovers latent magical abilities and saves the world? Though Sunny's initiative is thin-she is pushed into most of her choices by her friends and by Leopard adults-the worldbuilding for Leopard society is stellar, packed with details that will enthrall readers bored with the same old magical worlds. Meanwhile, those looking for a touch of the familiar will find it in Sunny's biggest victories, which are entirely non-magical (the detailed dynamism of Sunny's soccer match is more thrilling than her magical world saving). 

Library Media Connection (October 2011)

Sunny is a "free agent" for the Leopard People, just learning about her untapped magical powers while living in Western Africa. She and her friends, Orlu, Chichi, and Sasha, must use their innate magical power and natural talents to work together to destroy an evil serial killer whose actions, and use of black magic, will lead to the destruction of the Earth. This unique novel has the feel of a modern fairy tale and will appeal to teens looking for more than the typical fantasy filled with vampires and wizards.

Publishers Weekly (February 14, 2011)

Okorafor (The Shadow Speaker) returns with another successful tale of African magic. Although a bit slow getting started, this tale is filled with marvels and is sure to appeal to teens whose interest in fantasy goes beyond dwarves and fairies. 

School Library Journal (June 1, 2011)

This contemporary fantasy features Sunny, 12, Nigerian by blood but born in New York City, who's been living in Nigeria since she was 9. She has West African features but is an albino with yellow hair, white skin, and hazel eyes. This mixture confuses people, and she is teased and bullied by classmates. One day while looking into a candle flame, she sees a vision of the end of the world. This vividly imagined, original fantasy shows what life is like in today's Nigeria, while it beautifully explores an alternate magical reality. Sunny must deal with cultural stereotypes, a strict father who resents her being female, and older brothers who pick on her because she's better at soccer than they are. This is a consistently surprising, inventive read that will appeal to more thoughtful, patient fantasy readers because it relies less on the action and more on exploring the characters' gradual mastery of their talents.

Awards: 

• Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA), 06/01/11

CONNECTIONS

Other books by Nnedi Okorafor:

• Okorafor, N. AKATA WARRIOR. ISBN 9781549067112

• Okorafor, N. IKENGA. ISBN 9780593113523

• Okorafor, N. Zarhrah the Windseeker. ISBN 9780329660413 

In the classroom:

• ELAR - One could use this novel to partner with old folk tales of African descent and do comparisons. 

• ELAR - Theme activity of friendship and working together to achieve something great.