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.)