Where the Black Flowers Bloom
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A gripping, richly imagined fantasy set in an alternate ancient African world in which a Black girl finds her power and saves her people from evil, by the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning author of Black Panther: The Young Prince.
In the land of Alkebulan, twelve-year-old Asha is an orphan, raised by Madame S, the proprietor of a traveling carnival. When Madame S is attacked by ghoulish creatures, she manages to tell Asha before she dies, “Seek the Underground Kingdom, where the black flowers bloom.”
Asha doesn’t understand the mysterious words, but they launch her onto a page-turning quest to protect her people and stop an ancient evil. Along the way, she uncovers shocking secrets about the family she never knew and begins to find her place in the world as she discovers her own untapped powers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
On the eve of Asha's 13th birthday and Telling Day ceremony, which will reveal her life's path, she wonders what mark the goddess Royal Lioness will reveal on her skin. Perhaps a wisdom knot like that adorning the neck of her caretaker, Suna? Or a war horn like Obo, leader of the traveling circus troupe that raised the young foundling? But the mark she receives—a baobab tree—isn't known or understood as anything but an old and sacred symbol. Soon after Asha sees a bird-like shape in tea leaves, disaster strikes: a powerful sorcerer known as the Shrike sends Tokoloshe, birds that turn into shadowy men with beaks, to decimate the troupe and kill Suna, forcing Asha to flee in the night. Suna's last words tell Asha to find the Underground Kingdom "where the black flowers bloom," sending her on a quest alongside Obo, shape-shifting faerie changeling Sprix, and Suna's warrior sister Rima. Traveling throughout the fantastical land of Alkebulan, the band seeks to help Asha discover the secrets of her heritage, an arcane power, and the truth of her destiny to stop a terrible evil. Inspired by African mythology and folklore, this lushly wrought hero's journey by Smith (Gloom Town) touches deftly on themes of family, fate, forgiveness, and justice. Protagonists read as Black. Ages 8–12.
