Image: Scholastic Inc.
Middle Grade Monday features The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson. Cherokee sixth grader, Ziggy lives in Poisonberry, New Mexico with his father, grandmother and older sister. He suffers from anxiety as well as grief over the disappearance of his mother ten years earlier. He sees a therapist who helps him cope when the anxiety becomes too much. He doesn't like the fact that Native American women disappear all the time and "no one seems to do much about it." When Alice, an oddball classmate who happens to wear a hearing aid tells him about the Nunnehi, mischievous shape-shifting spirits who are said to dwell in the caves in the desert just outside of town, Ziggy is convinced he can find answers about his mother there. Ziggy and Alice, together with Ziggy's best friend, a white boy named Corso and his sister set out after midnight to explore the caves. They encounter a series of magical beings, each with a story to tell on their quest through the desert.
The magical realism of this layered story is mind-bendy. Ziggy's anxiety and his methods of coping with it are authentically portrayed. He and his extended family are close and supportive. He is especially close to his grandmother and relies on her stories as guidance. New-to-me narrator, Curtis Michael Holland delivered a quiet, well-paced, thoughtful performance.
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