Raccoons and Rabbit Holes by
Loralee Evans
Four stars. Charming
fantasy story for 8-12-year-olds with a history lesson thrown in.
Julie and her new friends Jax and Ani explore a supposedly haunted
house and a raccoon leads them through a hollow tree and a tunnel to
the past, There, the black brother and sister meet Harriet Tubman as
she leads a young couple and their child to the underground railroad.
Miss Tubman comes to believe Jax when he claims to come from another
time. There’s mild suspense. The only indication of the plight of
slaves during that time are the fact the couple is fleeing a
plantation, the workers in the cotton fields, and the attitudes of
the people in the house where Julie is brought.
Binti by Nnedi Okarofor
Five star first book in a trilogy is a novella about the first girl of the
Himba tribe in the African desert who’s invited to study at Oomza
University in another part of the galaxy because of her mathematical
ability. She never went far from her village before but is a master
harmonizer and astrolabe designer. As Binti travels with other new
students, their ship (which is a living being) is attacked by the
Meduse who kill everyone but Binti and the pilot. The Otjize mud she
uses on her hair and skin to make her feel closer to home proves
useful in repairing the Meduse tentacles. Eventually she communicates
with them through an artifact she found in the desert. I’d heard
about this series for a while, but was at a convention selling my own
books when I learned Okarofor was speaking and signing her books. I
bought a copy and she autographed it in her own way.
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