Children of Blood and Bone

Adeyemi, T. (2018). Children of blood and bone. Henry Holt and Company.

Genre: YA Fantasy

    This story is told by three narrators: Zelie, Amari, and Inan. Years before the book takes place, King Saran kills all the Maji to rid the kingdom of magic. Zelie witnesses her mother's murder at a young age at the hands of Saran's soldiers. Years later, Zelie meets Amari at a marketplace. Amari runs away from her father, King Saran, after witnessing the murder of her close friend for using magic. She runs away with a scroll that has the power to give magic to Diviners, turning them into Maji. With this knowledge, Zelie, Amari, and Zelie’s brother Tzain go on a journey to bring magic back to the kingdom. While the trio is on this journey, Inan, Amari’s brother, is following them with an army, with the goal of destroying the scroll and magic forever. However, brief contact with the scroll turns Inan into a magic user as well. With his magic, Inan can connect with Zelie in a dreamscape and the two begin to understand each others' intentions.

    This book, while influenced by Yoruban folklore, is a commentary on race in America. In the author's note, Toni Adeyemi states that she wrote this book in response to the police killing of Black Americans. Adeyemi specifically lists Philando Castile, Jordan Edwards, Tamir Rice, and Aiyana Stanley-Jones and their families as inspiration for the stories in this book. While this story doesn't take place on Earth, there are translations of Yoruban in the book; Adeyemi thanks her community for the translations in the acknowledgments.