by P. Djèlí Clark
If you’ve read anything from the Dead Djinn Universe, but most especially a Master of Djinn, you know P. Djèlí Clark writes with magnetism, humor, and complexity, but he is also a ‘literary DJ’—taking in various genres, global mythology, times, places, and religions, and mixing them up to make music on the page.
In his first middle-grade novel, wittily and lovingly dedicated to his twin daughters, Clark is back in his bag. From West African folklore and gods; to tales from the American South and Caribbean; to tricksters from everywhere and real warrior women from Dahomey: Abeni’s Song is mixology served up for little girls who are looking for a mythic hero who is “brown like me” but could also be unlike any hero they’ve had before.
Abeni is a young girl who lives in a village that has been protected by a witch for ages. That protection ends and payment is due. Before becoming the apprentice to the Witch Asha, Abeni watches as wicked spirits use a song to enchant the children of her village and steal them away. Abeni decides she can never again stand by and watch as bad things happen to her people. She learns everything she can from the Elder Sage Asha and an animated Strawman, and sets out on a quest to reunite her village, while building a super-team of other girls along the way.
There is struggle and pain but also magic and discovery in a story set to enrapt you with new myths, inspired by folktales that have long been ready to take the stage in fiction.
