Simon & Schuster Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun takes the ‘fantasy magical school’ trope we know and love and spins in a whole new way. Onyeka is a young girl with untamable hair, when one day she finds out that she’s not quite human. She’s Solari and her unique power manifests through her hair. She sets out on a journey to find her Dad and discover more of the world of the Solari by returning to Nigeria where her family is from. The premise of this sounded amazing. The idea of a young black girl having a power that manifests through her hair just really sounded unique and needed. In fact in the author’s note Tọlá Okogwu talks about how she, as a hair care educator did this on purpose. I loved seeing what Onyeka thought was her greatest flaw become her greatest gift. The story pulls out some amazing Black Panther meets X-Men vibes as well, making this a hell of a fun adventure story. When Onyeka arrives in Nigera to attend the Academy of the Sun she begins to meet new friends, learn about what being a Solari means and what it means for her. The characters we meet have nuance, their powers are often what you’d see but the characters themselves are unique. I especially loved Hassan, who starts teaching Onyeka Pidgin English and who uses his force field abilities to sneak away to complete salat during the day (He must be protected at all costs). These powers were also very cleverly used. Hassan’s force field abilities are used both as a force field, but also as a camouflage tool, being able to blend in to what’s around him. Adanna is a synesthetic empath, emotions come to her as sounds or smells. That sounds both amazing and horrifying! I could predict and see where a lot of the plot beats were going to go but ultimately I was so invested in how we got there and what the character were doing that I didn’t care. This was a fantastic middle-grade with themes I think a lot of young kids need to see. I cannot wait to read more in this series. 5 out of 5 plates of yummy Akara from me

Brilliant book, wonderfully written. My daughter has had other book series/franchises bought for her and she just couldn’t get into them but Onyeka and the AOS has reeled her in. She struggles with attention issues so it’s taken her a while but slowly & surely she has loved this book and keeps coming to update me on what’s happening. She loves the humour in it and likes to tell me the funny bits. She can’t wait for the next book which we’ve just pre-ordered. And when she comes home from school I get to tell her this is being made into a feature film. She’s going to be ecstatic! Thank you to the author for igniting that love of reading that I’ve been trying to instil for years now without much luck!

My kid is dressing up like Onyeka this week we love all 3 books

This book is sooo good. The story is interesting, and not overly predictable. There are many cultural references that add authentic detail, with a glossary included to help anyone unfamiliar. I actually bought this book AND the sequel after finishing this one as an audio book. When I added them to my classroom library, there was fighting over who would get to read it first. This book is about Black Girl Magic— literally! I truly haven’t read anything quite like it before. I’d give it 10 stars if I could.

My daughter hasn’t read this yet so can only comment on the cover which is stunning and the quality is great