WEEK 5 - Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (5+ points)

 This story overall deals with themes of identity and explores the ideas of otherness. Sunny is an albino girl who is born in the U.S to parents who are Nigerian. She moves to Nigeria and feels out of place. She's albino and not living where she's used to be. She also discovers special abilities that characterize her as a Leopard Person, meaning she used Juju as a spell to attack when in need. She learns magic and overall how to be more sure of herself within the company of her classmates. Within great power comes great responsibility. She ends up trying to put together the mystery of the events happening, such as the murders of many children. There's a certain whimsicalness to this story but overall from solving the mystery she also becomes more confident with her differences. 

The story is quite whimsical but it has it's dark moments so there's quite the balance throughout the whole story. It's a good outlook on being a witch through a different cultural lense. I like that this story was not based in the West and has a new perspective and good representation. I think that in a weird way it reminds me of Harry Potter, but with a cultural lens based on real events and on actual practices taken in real world perspectives. The idea of being a 'free agent' is basically like in Harry Potter having muggle parents which I thought was an interesting observation. 




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