By Angie Thomas. Balzer+Bray 2023.
Angie Thomas’s first book, The Hate You Give, published in 2017, was a work of realistic fiction that won numerous major awards, and was made into a major motion picture. However, the first book she wrote was actually a fantasy novel.
In a 2017 Ebony interview, Thomas explains how her growing up influences her writing when she told the reporter that “being from Mississippi, specifically, and hearing the stories about Emmett Till, and being familiar with that from a very young age. Or knowing that I lived maybe three minutes away from Medgar Evers’ home, and that my mom heard the gunshot that killed him. Knowing that I live in a state where whenever somebody would fight for my rights or speak up for me, they were automatically deemed the enemy by the majority. Growing up with that kind of mindset and knowing that, as a Black woman, I have to be twice as good to get half the respect, I have to prove myself even more in certain circumstances. This frames me as a writer in so many different ways.” This frames even her middle grade fantasy novel.
Nic Blake’s story begins on her 12th birthday, her last year of childhood. She and her father are Remarkables living in exile in Jackson, MS, an Unremarkable city. Often relocating from place to place and with no other family members, Nic is disconnected from much of the world around her. Luckily, she has JP for a friend.
This is a supernatural adventure story where things begin to happen after Nic attends an event with JP. Her father never did teach her about the tools that are available to her as a Manifestor, but he did surprise her with a pet hellhound for her birthday. She has a lot to accomplish with few tools, and even less time to do it.
What works: This is a story about a young Black girl, but it’s not a story about her being Black; it’s not about race or racism. Nic’s reality is based in a predominantly Black world that Thomas develops by incorporating Black history, legends, and figures into the story. Angie Thomas has built a very detailed world where everyone has and knows their place. This felt very southern to me, as do many of the sayings and traditions (caramel cake!) that are brought into the story. LORE acts as the law enforcement agency. While they work to protect and maintain order, LORE also enacts a sense of social justice when someone disobeys the law.
In most works of speculative fiction, the message to young Black girls is that you are magical, that you have some magic gift that others you, defines you, and protects you; thus giving the message that you have to be more than simply to exist. However, early in Nic’s story, her dad tells her, “Your brain’s the only gift you need. You’re the only gift you need. Everything you need is inside you.” (p. 25) Nic’s quest proves this to herself as well as to readers who are with her examining her fears and trepidations.
Although her experiences are as a Remarkable in a supernatural dimension, Nic doesn’t know what tools she has available to her. When she meets wizards who use magic, she remembers her father telling her that magic is a corrupt form of the Gift. Twelve-year-old Nic, and her same age friends, get the job done.
There are confrontations and mischief in the story, but everyone’s actions have a reason, even the Devil’s Daughter. The young people Thomas is writing for will feel safe with all the smelly, oversized creatures because Nic’s narrative voice is that of a rational twelve-year-old making sense of the world around her. Through Nic’s best friend, JP, Nic brings Christian elements into the story.
In this made-up world, Angie Thomas uses humor, history, and friendship to explore themes of justice, self-empowerment, and truth.
Grab or ? I would grab this for middle school and public library collections where students enjoy fantasy. I would recommend it to students who have enjoyed Zetta Elliott’s Dragons in a Bag series, Sonia Nimr’s Thunderbird series, and even Zoraida Córdova’s Brooklyn Brujas series which is slightly more mature.
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