Kaya Morgan’s Crowning Achievement

Middle schooler Kaya Morgan’s happiest memories are of summer days at the North Georgia Renaissance Faire, “a magical place grounded in the real world,” where she bonded over funnel cake fries with her late father, a bowman who ruled the fair’s archery stall on the weekends. Now 12, Kaya is thrilled to finally join the fair’s apprentice camp and train for the role her father promised her: queen. Instead, Kaya is cast as court jester. Nevertheless determined to become “the first Black queen in the Faire’s forty-year history,” Kaya’s royal pursuits end in hollow victory when administrators, desperate to diversify the financially struggling camp’s image, name her the “face of the Faire,” even as they continue to maintain traditions and policies that reinforce racial stereotypes. Kaya slowly gains awareness of the real-world biases that govern the fair’s carefully crafted illusions and, with help from a few friends, sets out to create the world she wants to rule. This earnest middle grade debut from Tew (The Dividing Sky) makes big questions surrounding profiling and systemic racism accessible via a smart and relatable narrator whose burgeoning, joyful agency proves a crowning achievement, indeed. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Azantian, Azantian Literary. (Apr.)