Sunny’s English teacher asks her to beat the hands of her classmates because they don’t write as well as she does (this is twisted on so many levels). It’s often used as a threat, but both Sasha and Chichi have been beaten.

It’s a common punishment for disobeying Leopard laws.

In the final ritual that he’s doing, he kills two toddlers, although thanks to the magic of Orlu they’re brought back to life and returned uninjured to their parents.Ĭaning, flogging, and other corporal punishment is totally typical and accepted. It’s a little graphic for the faint of heart. Many of these happen before the novel opens, but during the course of the book he gouges out the eyes of a seven year old and cuts the ears off a 6 year old. He’s attacked nearly 20 kids, killing many of them and maiming others. SPOILER ALERT: Things you might want to know before suggesting this to your kid Violence against kids A lot of the themes are on the older edge of tween, but it’s a modern fantasy that doesn’t take place in the US or Britain, so it may well be worth letting your younger reader push themselves a bit if they’re interested in Akata Witch. Sunny lives in a very dangerous world, with death a constant threat. I’m almost tempted to call it a subplot because it’s mostly treated so casually, but it does play a crucial role in the climax of the novel. However, there’s also an overarching plot about a ritual killer that only Sunny and her friends can stop. Mostly the novel is about Sunny and her friends-Orlu, Chichi, and Sasha-working with their mentors and teachers, and as Sunny learns more about the Leopard world, the reader learns along with her. Sunny has to keep it secret from her family. She becomes friends with other Leopard kids, but they all come from Leopard families, so they’ve been raised in the culture and can talk with their parents about it. As if she doesn’t already feel enough like she doesn’t fit in, she learns that she’s a Leopard person, which means she is capable of juju and other magical type things. Akata Witch is the story of Sunny, an albino Igbo girl who recently moved to Nigeria from the United States.

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