Tracey Baptiste - Freedom Fire: Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos - Published by Freedom Fire (August 6, 2024) - ISBN-13 : 978-1368074377 - Hardback - Age:8+
From the best-selling author of the Jumbies series comes an Afro-Caribbean-inspired story about three cousins who discover they are mokos--protector spirits--during carnival season in Brooklyn
Weirdness and wonders abound in this colorful celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture by the author of the beloved Jumbies series.Twelve-year-old Misty and her mother have just moved from Trinidad to Brooklyn, New York, in time for the annual carnival celebrations over Labor Day weekend. Misty has plenty to deal with getting used to living with her cousins Aiden and Brooke in her new surroundings. On top of that, her mom is too busy trying to find a job and her aunts and uncles are too preoccupied with carnival preparations to pay any attention to her.
Then really strange things begin to happen. A ball of feathers in the basement turns into a creature that squeaks and rolls around. When Misty and her cousins eat pieces of mango anchar, flames shoot out of their mouths. Most disturbing of all, Misty begins to see visions of the future--scary visions that soon come true.
Misty discovers that she and her cousins come from a long line of mokos, people who have special powers meant to help them protect their community. Misty can see impending danger, Aiden can heal, and Brooke has crazy physical strength. The trio is just learning about their skills when Misty senses something watching her. And then each of the carnival events is disrupted by a different disaster. Some kind of evil force is clearly trying to stop the festivities. But why? And will moko magic be enough to save the day?
The Nightbirds were once their city’s best-kept secret, but now the secret’s out. What’s more, they can do feats of magic no one has seen in centuries. They’re like the Fyrebirds of old: the powerful women who once moved mountains, parted seas, and led armies. Some say that when four join together, they become a force that shakes the earth and sends magic rippling through it. It does seem as if something has awoken in Eudea, but the four girls responsible don’t want the world to know the full extent of what they can do—at least not yet.
As the new leader of Eudea works to lift the prohibition on magic, the churchmen who do not support it—and the gang lords who profit from it—whisper rebellion. The secret resistance who once sheltered the Nightbirds is rallying, too. Smelling blood in the water, an ambitious Farlands king threatens to take Eudea. As war looms, and the empire’s fate hangs from a knife’s edge, the Nightbirds have to decide if becoming more than that are—Fyrebirds—to protect Simta is worth losing themselves entirely and the lives and loves they might have had.
The Grimsbane women have been hunting witches and monsters for generations—ever since the Watcher, the most powerful witch in the Midwest, cursed the Grimsbane men to die untimely and unusual deaths. Part-time skater, full-time troublemaker Anna Grimsbane may be only twelve, but she’s been learning about hunting her whole life and is tired of waiting to do the real thing. She and her twin brother Billy are about to turn thirteen, the age the curse takes hold, and Anna wants to be on the front lines fighting to break it.
Only hours before he’ll become an accident-prone walking disaster, Billy runs away to find the Watcher himself. The Grimsbane women are all out on patrol, leaving it up to Anna and her friends Suvi and Rosario to find Billy before his recklessness hastens his demise. But the woods are crawling with cryptids, most of whom hate humans, and all of whom hate the Grimsbanes, and the deeper Anna gets into the forest, the clearer it is that reading about witch hunting is no replacement for practical experience.
Anna feels in over her head, especially as she starts to suspect she knows much less about her family history than she’d thought. As she races against the clock to find Billy before midnight, it becomes all too evident that he isn’t the only Grimsbane at risk for a grisly death tonight.
When Vietnamese American Freddie Lo finds herself in Vietnam for the first time since she was little, she's not quite sure how to feel. The memories of her extended family are more like distant echoes; she has a tough time speaking Vietnamese; and she can't help but feel like she just isn't Vietnamese enough. Still, this is her chance to reconnect with her family, especially her Ong ngoai -- or grandfather -- who is receiving a big award.
That's when Ong ngoai reveals his secret: He knows the location of an ancient legendary crossbow, one with the power to decimate armies -- and he's hidden it away from those who intend to use its magic for evil. But when Ong ngoai is kidnapped, it's up to Freddie, her cousin Lien, and a mysterious boy named Duy to get to the crossbow before it ends up in the wrong hands.
In this Indiana Jones-style adventure, readers will travel through Vietnam -- from its seaside villages, to the swamps of the Mekong Delta, to the majestic Marble Mountains of Da Nang -- as Freddie learns what it takes to be a hero.
