Once you read Ballad & Dagger, you will see what I mean. San Madrigal is a real as Wakanda or the Shire or Earthsea. Just because a place is fictional doesn’t mean it isn’t real. (Because I am the kind of person who says “Balderdash.”) I still ache with sorrow when I think about such a loss to the world. A tiny jewel of a country!Īnd then, fifteen years ago, it disappeared beneath the waves, leaving behind only the diaspora community of Little Madrigal in Brooklyn, New York. It wasn’t perfect, no, but it was fiercely, proudly independent. San Madrigal was a haven from persecution, slavery, and colonial rule. Nowhere else in the world had that particularly wonderful mix of humanity-the three “founding” groups of Sefaradim, Santeros, and pirates, and also Indigenous peoples, dispossessed European Jews, and freed West Africans. Platters overflowed with luscious seafood. The Grand Fetes swirled with color and joyful chaos: dancing, singing, and drumming gifts and prayers for the spirits. the Atlantis of the Caribbean! The irresistible music of the kameros electrified the tropical evenings. Oh, that beautiful island swallowed by the sea. The Grand Fetes swirled with color and joyful chaos: dancing, s Do you remember San Madrigal? We have some vampires to hunt.moreĭo you remember San Madrigal? Oh, that beautiful island swallowed by the sea. Grab whatever weapon you can find and gird yourself for battle, readers. I would even agree to chill with the family mmoatia and watch reruns of The Bachelor if it meant I could learn to draw adinkra symbols and borrow Mom’s battle ax once in a while. Rosie writes her characters with such lyrical power, wit and empathy that you can’t help falling in love with Serwa Boateng, her family, her friends. This is something many young readers (and many older ones) will relate to. She writes about living between worlds – Ghana and America, childhood and adulthood, the magical and the mundane – and about navigating the liminal spaces to find one’s own identity when one feels like they belong partly everywhere but completely nowhere. Brown has stepped up to the plate and delivered us this homerun of novel! This is a book I have been craving for at least thirty years, when I first learned about Ghanaian mythology and wished I had more adventure stories about it to share with my middle school students. And the Abomofuo are top-notch, world-class vampire slayers that put Van Helsing to shame. (Or sometimes the gods are terrifying and the monsters are magnificent.) The magic makes so much sense yet is absolutely revelatory. Adinkra symbols are a beautiful, powerful way of thinking about the world. I have always loved the folklore of Ghana. And a conclusion that will leave you screaming, “Where is the sequel?” With this book, you don’t have to choose only one option, because Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting has all of the above! She is on her own against blood-sucking fiends of both the monstrous and middle school variety. There might actually be adze in Rocky Gorge - but now Serwa is cut off from her parents and any possibility of magic assistance. Just when Serwa thinks she might be able to handle all that, her old problems come back to haunt her too. You think you’re tough? Wait until you meet Rocky Gorge Middle School. After an unthinkable attack, Serwa’s parents send her to her cousin’s house in the middle of nowhere to live like a normal kid and – THE HORROR – go to sixth grade.
#PERCY JACKSON AUTHOR FULL#
She is full-on option ‘A.’ She has spent her life learning to slay vampires, accompanying her parents on dangerous missions wherever the ruling council of Okomfo sends them, and just waiting for the day when she will get her own adinkra tattoo that will mark her as a full member of the Abomofuo – the ancient and powerful Ghanaian order of vampire slayers. If you chose ‘B,’ what are you thinking? B is clearly the more dangerous option. Would you rather:Ī) Live with your parents as they travel the world, hunting vampiric monsters called adze, learning to handle a battle ax and sword and drawing magical adinkra symbols, knowing that you could die any minute. Would you rather: A) Live with your parents as they travel the world, hunting vampiric monsters called adze, learning to handle a battle ax and sword and drawing magical Grab Your Sword and Your Spaghetti. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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