Hugo and Nebula Award winner Nnedi Okorafor (Binti; Binti: Home) seamlessly blends southeast Nigerian culture, fantasy elements and contemporary themes in her first middle-grade novel, Ikenga.
After 12-year-old Nnamdi's father, the police chief of a southeastern Nigerian town, is murdered, Nnamdi feels hopeless and angry--if only Nnamdi could be more like his favorite superhero, the Incredible Hulk, so he could "dive into danger when it was at its worst and win." On the one-year anniversary of his father's death, Nnamdi is visited by his father's spirit, who gives him an "Ikenga." The ebony figure ("a place of strength" in Igbo) can be used as a guiding force only if Nnamdi stays focused on the tasks at hand. With the Ikenga, Nnamdi becomes the Man: "tall like an iroko tree... very strong" and "black-skinned, as if he were stitched from the night." The Man thwarts criminals, but Nnamdi's minimal control over his powers soon has the townspeople seeing the Man as a violent vigilante. With the help of best friend Chioma, Nnamdi learns to manage his anger so he can use the power of the Ikenga for good.
Corruption and power are prevalent themes throughout Ikenga. Okorafor makes these topics accessible to middle-grade readers by showing them through the eyes of a kid superhero and his sidekick. Nnamdi not only ticks off every box on a classic superhero's profile, he's also a sympathetic, vulnerable person who seeks justice but struggles with how to achieve it. "Outspoken, upbeat, and playful" Chioma is the perfect balance to Nnamdi--her friendship, with its ups and downs, compels Nnamdi's transformative journey to keep anger from ruling his life.
With its enduring themes, charismatic characters and exhilarating events, Ikenga powerfully shows spiritual and fantastical elements confronting real-world problems. --Lana Barnes, freelance reviewer and proofreader