Speculation

By Nisi Shawl, Tu Books, 2023

Nisi Shawl is a multiple-award-winning writer and editor. Their novel Everfair was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the short story collection Filter House won the James Tiptree Jr. Award. They co-founded the Carl Brandon Society to help give people of color greater visibility in the science fiction and fantasy worlds, and their “Writing the Other” workshops and accompanying book (co-created with Cynthia Ward and K. Tempest Bradford) have taught thousands of writers new ways of thinking about diversity and representation within fiction.

Nisi received the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Speculation is their first novel for young readers. Born near Kalamazoo, Michigan, Nisi now lives near Seattle. 

Speculation is a historical fantasy novel told through the perspective of 10-year-old Winna Cole, a courageous Black girl who must go to stay with her grandparents when her mother becomes ill. It’s 1962, and Winna and her little sister, Tupelo, are spending the summer in Vandalia while their mother recovers in the hospital. Everything is out of sorts: Tupelo wets the bed she and Winna share most nights, their cousin Benny is mean, and Tupelo breaks Winna’s glasses.

Glasses are expensive, and Winna is upset with Tupelo because she knows that Rachel, their mother, can’t easily afford buying her a new pair. The world is blurry and all seems lost, until Grampa Carl gives Winna a pair of glasses that used to belong to Estelle, her great-aunt. Though they are old (and look it), Winna soon discovers that these aren’t ordinary glasses.

Great-aunt Estelle’s glasses are magical, and they allow Winna to see that things are more than they appear. As Winna’s world comes into sharper focus, a mystery begins to unfold. Winna meets the ghosts of Estelle and other family members, ghosts who want her to know the history of her family and to break a curse that has haunted them for nearly a century.        

With the help of the magical glasses, cousin Benny, and Grampa Carl, Winna embarks on an epic journey to solve the mystery, break the curse, and bring her mother home. What will it take to accomplish these aspirations? The determination to never give up.                  

What works: Shawl effortlessly weaves magic and history to tell a story of agency and determination, employing the lived realities of Black people throughout the centuries, and the racist attitudes of the ‘60s, to great effect.  

What doesn’t work: Though suspenseful and inventive, the story lags at some intervals, and some characters’ development is skimmed over rather than shared fully. It would be helpful for young readers to know that the book is set in the ‘60s earlier in the book, and the introduction of various family members from over a timespan of 100 years was a bit confusing as well (however, there is a family tree included at the end of the book to help ascertain who is who). 

Pass It OR Grab It? Grab it. A thoughtful portrait of family history and the magic of self-belief, Speculation is best for middle school and public library collections. Recommended for fans of Root Magic by Eden Royce and The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson.