Kwame crashes the underworld

Farmer makes divine drama relatably human in this lively debut that celebrates Ghanaian culture and mythology while tackling themes of grief and identity. Intent on recovering the dashiki made for him by his late grandmother, Black 12-year-old Kwame chases a creature reminiscent of "long-haired monkeys" after it escapes with the garment through a portal to the Ghanaian underworld. But when Kwame's soul is identified as carrying a shard of the earth goddess's essence, he becomes the target of her son, the trickster god Nansi, who plans on using Kwame's newfound abilities to destroy humanity as revenge for what it's done to his mother's planet. Accompanied by his hard-of-hearing Black and Korean best friend Autumn and his grandmother's spirit, Kwame must dodge sea monsters, survive cursed forests, and save the planet in his crusade to return to the mortal realm. Using Kwame's sympathetic first-person POV as a reluctant hero struggling to express his grief and connect with his Ghanaian heritage, Farmer deftly weaves together an inclusive tale of friendship, family, and identity featuring characters and adventure readers will yearn to revisit. Key moments depict conversations in American Sign Language. Ages 8--12. Agent: Emily Forney, BookEnds Literary. (Sept.)

A grieving 12-year-old from North Carolina finds comfort, a sense of purpose, and epic adventures in the afterlife. Kwame is reluctant to travel with his parents to Ghana for a celebration of the life of his beloved, sorely missed grandmother. He feels out of place there, not Ghanaian enough for his relatives. So what changes his mind? Perhaps it's meeting his grandmother as a dynamic child of about his age following an involuntary leap into the underworld of Asamando? Or learning that he carries a fragment of Asase Yaa, Mother Earth? Or it might be facing threats including a sea monster and Asase's conniving sons Tano the river god and Nansi the trickster. He also repeatedly rescues and is rescued by his game-loving, longtime bestie, Autumn Choi, who leaps intrepidly after him from the living world brandishing a sword she bought online and a fierce attitude honed by years of being bullied for being hard of hearing (the friends communicate using ASL) as well as Black and Korean. Ultimately, Kwame understands that he's American by birth but Ghanian by heritage--and that, through his connection with Asase, he's charged with everyone on Earth. Debut author Farmer tells a grand tale, funny and terrifying in turns, steeped in Ghanaian spirituality and folklore, and wrapped around themes of identity, obligation, true friendship, and devastating loss. Readers will come away admiring Kwame and the redoubtable Autumn. Heroic feats aplenty amid explorations of rich cultural and personal landscapes. (map, author's note, glossary)(Fantasy. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.