Elisa’s 'mountainous' body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone-and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra-can save them. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. Much like their magical world, it’s “simultaneously ancient and modern West African.” It’s a hefty tome for a middle school read, but Sunny’s an inviting character who keeps the pace moving.Ī charming adventure stocked with a house-sized spider, an Afro comb gifted by a goddess, and a giant flying rodent-one who loves hip-hop.Īdventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.Įlisa-Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle-has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. An oracle explains that these dreams are prophetic and sends her and her friends to a magical city populated with spirits who chat on cellphones. Sunny's been having strange nightmares, possibly tied to new environmental disasters. The magic appears influenced by Igbo religious practices in Sunny’s diverse Nigeria, populated by Muslims and Christians, where Sunny and her African-American and Nigerian friends learn magic and eat in Uzoma’s Chinese Restaurant.

A superstitious bigot accuses Sunny (who does draw supernatural power from her albinism) of being a witch as albino Nigerians suffer genuine harm from such accusations, the truth in this attack strikes a discordant note. Sunny is albino, though her magic has eliminated most disabling effects aside from a need to wear glasses.

Now she alternates among regular school Leopard training with her teacher, Sugar Cream training with her magical alter ego spirit face and hiding her secret life from her parents and brothers. A soccer-loving, American-born Nigerian 13-year-old matures into her mystical powers.Ī few years after her Igbo parents brought their children to live in Nigeria ( Akata Witch, 2011), Sunny Nwazue had learned she belonged to the mystical Leopard People.

Akata warrior