71. Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor
This week we’re discussing Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor. This story follows Zahrah, a 13 year old girl who is born with special hair called dadalocks. When her best friend falls into a coma after a snake bite, Zahrah, who is scared of pretty much everything, has to take a journey through the jungle to find a cure.
This is Okorafor’s debut from back in 2005 if you can believe it. The world building is NEXT LEVEL, our MC is feisty and relatable, and there’s a beautiful friendship at the core of the story. What’s not to love?
This was the book choice of our wonderful Patreon patron Grey from@grey_reads. Follow them on instagram for reviews of a wide variety of books. Thanks so much for this one, Grey!
- Recommend if you like…
- Matilda (although we’ve only seen the movie)
- Alice in Wonderland – which gets a few mentions in the book, although with a slightly different title
- Ms. Marvel – either the comics or the show
- A Blade so Black by L.L. Mckinney*
* we’ve done episodes for this book! but you don’t have to take our word for it – go ahead and scroll thru our episodes page 🙂
- we looked it up, first iPhone was from 2007
- Headspace app/site (not an ad! Jessie just enjoys it)
- collective group names for vultures
- This novel is dedicated to Virginia Hamilton, a Black author who has won ton of awards for her writing and is one of the few Black people to have won a Newbery
- “Friendlove” episode of How to Survive the End of the World podcast
- “I’ve Got a Friend” by Maggie Rogers (visualizer on YT)
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As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical people. Drop us a line in the comments or reach out to us on twitter, Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email (thelibraycoven@gmail.com).
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Our cover art is by the talented artist nimsby. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com.
We support #LandBack. The Library Coven is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie)
