I can't tell you the last time I read a book where the female heroine cried. Zahrah cried through most of the book and I never felt like she was being whiny. Nowadays female heroines are made to have super human strength, agility, and intelligence but Zahrah was an average everyday girl. She could fly but that was downplayed since she's scared of heights. Zahrah reminds me of my own daughter who at any moment can show great signs of strength and intelligence and then turn around the next day and cry because she was picked on at school.
Zahrah the Windseeker is Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu's first novel. It is a strong first novel and is destined to become a classic. I am going to buy two books and donate them to my daughter's elementary library in order to speed the process up. Her second novel, The Shadow Speaker, is due October 15, 2007, and it will also be a young adult novel. I am so enamored with Zahrah the Windseeker that I can't comprehend another book being just as good. I'm looking forward to being proven wrong.
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu lives in Illinois with her family. She will be a featured guest at the first annual Galacticon, a sci-fi convention geared towards examining the diversity within speculative fiction, from July 13-15, 2007 in downtown Chicago.
Article comments
1 - Katie McNeill
this sounds really really great! I'll have to pick up a copy. (and there is nothing wrong with reading YA)