An imaginative fantasy adventure, The Call to
Shakabaz sidesteps many of the usual conventions of the
genre and offers
instead unusual and original resolutions to a variety of sticky situations. When
the recently orphaned Goodacre children are transported to the land of
Faracadar, they must discover and develop their special gifts and talents,
which require that they exercise ingenuity, creativity, and compassion.
Fourteen-
year-
old Doshmisi and her younger siblings Denzel, Maia, and Sonjay
are given the task of retrieving the powerful Staff of Shakabaz from the evil
enchanter Sissrath. They travel through a colorful landscape with their
Faracadaran guide, fifteen-year-old Jasper, and their Aunt Alice’s clever,
pesky, and often hilarious parrot, Bayard Rustin. The adventurers must contend
with many obstacles and foes, including a giant sea serpent spewing green goo,
skeeter birds with uncanny eyesight, the smelliest man in the land (named
Compost), the deadly mountain geebachings (who cause their victims to laugh
themselves to death), as well as Sissrath himself and his minions (who shoot
deadly poison darts at their enemies). Assistance is provided to them along the
way by the High Chief and his clever daughter, talking whales, ancient trees,
drummers, inventors, butterflies, wolves, tigers, and the peculiar sprites who
live underground in the hills. Author Amy Wachspress has set the story in an
African American cultural context, with all brown
characters, for a
refreshingly different perspective on adventuring in make-believe lands (there
are almost no books in this genre with any African American characters in
them). The Call to Shakabaz explores a host of difficult and complex
issues that today’s
young people face and challenges
readers to reconsider the
nature of violence and our relation to it. In the final climactic sequence,
young readers learn the fundamental principles of nonviolence as practiced by
Dr. King and Mahatma Gandhi. When the last page turns and the dust clears, this
book will inspire readers to
think and think again. For more information visit www.wozabooks.com.
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