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Shadowshaper
CCBC Review:
Strange things are happening in Brooklyn even before a re-animated corpse attacks Sierra Santiago at the inaugural party of the summer. The murals on local buildings are changing and fading, tears and anguished expressions moving across the faces of the people in the paintings. Sudden, urgent requests from her invalid grandfather to team up with a boy named Robbie lead Sierra to discover a world of ancient magic tied directly to their Caribbean heritage: shadowshaping. An artist initiated into the shadowshapers can create a work of art—drawing, story, song, mural—and channel spirits to inhabit the creation and do the creator’s will. Robbie inducts Sierra, who shows a natural talent, into the shadowshapers. With the aid of Nydia (an archivist from Columbia University), Manny the Domino King, Neville Spencer (Sierra’s resourceful godfather), and her friends, Sierra and Robbie use their talents to unravel the mystery of the disappearing murals, fight a power-hungry anthropologist, and restore strength to the shadowshapers. The realistic characters and grounding of this urban fantasy in Puerto Rican and Haitian culture stand out. There is dialogue peppered with Spanish and French, comfort food of plantains and chicken and rice, Robbie’s tattoos portraying his Taino heritage, and the Salsa-Thrash Metal band led by Sierra’s brother. Open discussions of race and racial politics among the characters are also notable in a book that affirms the power of owning and embracing one’s cultural heritage. ©2015 Cooperative Children's Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 13 and older
Age Range:
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Art and Artists
Families
Haitians and Haitian Americans
Puerto Ricans
Supernatural
Diversity subjects:
Black/African
Indigenous
Latine
LGBTQ Character/Topic
Publishers:
Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic
Publish Year: 2015
Pages: 297
ISBN: 9780545591614
CCBC Location: Fiction, Older