Image: Penguin Random House
Happy Tuesday! Posting a tad late today because I needed to solve the Wordle entry. Do you Wordle? So much fun!
Teen Tuesday features a sparkling debut called Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen. During the time when large ships would arrive in West Africa to steal humans, Simi is a Mami Wata, a mermaid whose job it is to collect the souls of those who die in the sea and send them home. Simi is a restless mermaid, who often returns to the land in order to remember her life as a human. Once she returns to the sea, however, those memories fade. One day, she discovers a boy in the ocean, thrown overboard by one of those evil ships, and he is alive! She can't leave him to drown and, in saving him, has broken an ancient rule and angered the gods. Now, she must make amends and also help the boy, Colo, reunite with his family.
Ms. Bowen notes in her Author's Note that her favorite fairy tale when growing up was The Little Mermaid despite the fact that she did not see herself in it. Later, she learned of the existence of West African myths that described mermaids. This historical fiction/ mythology mash-up is the first book of a duology and I can't wait for the next one! I fell in love with Simi and Colo and the twins, I laughed and I cried.
The West African setting is vivid and lush and the writing is gorgeous! I was glad that I read this one with my ears. It was narrated by a West African narrator so I learned the proper pronunciation of the names of the gods and human characters.
And isn't that cover just amazing?
And isn't that cover just amazing?
No comments:
Post a Comment