Children of the Quicksands
Children of the Quicksands
Fiction / Nigeria / Ages 9-12
Chicken House
July 26, 2022
304
"A richly imagined magical adventure set in West Africa by a prize-winning new voice in children's writing, Children of the Quicksands introduces readers to Yoruba myths and legends while showcasing the wealth of culture, traditions, adventure, joy, pride, and love found in Nigeria. In a remote Nigerian village, thirteen-year-old Simi is desperate to uncover a family secret. Ajao is nothing like Lagos -- no cells phones, no running water or electricity. Not a single human-made sound can be heard at night, just the noise of birds and animals rustling in the dark forest outside. Her ... grandmother dispenses advice and herbal medicine to the village, but she's tight lipped about their family history. Something must have happened, but what? Determined to find out, Simi disobeys her grandmother and goes exploring only to find herself sinking in the red quicksand of a forbidden lake and into the strange parallel world that lies beneath. It must have been a dream... right? Wrong. Something isn't right. Children are disappearing and it's up to Simi to discover the truth." Publisher
The title of Efua Traore’s Children of the Quicksands sounds ominous. The word foreshadows harrowing events to come in this mythology-based adventure. The novel’s main character is Simi, a thirteen-year-old girl from the metropolitan city of Lagos, Nigeria. Her fractious parents are divorced. Dad has a new life with his girlfriend. Mom is busy building her career as a pharmacist. Simi’s friends are off to posh places for summer vacation but Mom sends Simi to her mother in the countryside. Simi has never heard of, let alone seen, this grandmother Mother calls “a heathen.” She lives in Ajao, a village in Western Nigeria without cell phone towers or electricity. As soon as Simi arrives, Grandmother tells Simi to call her iyanla, the Yoruba word for grandmother. Iyanla prefers Yoruba over English and is culture keeper of the old local ways. An herbalist and healer, Iyanla is highly respected in Ajao. As Simi also learns, Iyanla is a priestess to Oshun, goddess of rivers and protector of children.
The plot revolves around the disappearance of local children near a lake. Are these deaths accidental or as most locals believe, the work of an unhappy orisha. The very day Simi arrives in Ajao she is lured to the lake by a bird, sucked into red quicksand and finds herself in the underworld. She encounters some of the lost children before she is miraculously expelled from quicksand. Disoriented in time and space, Simi wonders, was this a dream or was I really there? Courageous and clever Simi unravels the mystery of the disappearance of the children. She is also the bridge that brings her mother and grandmother back together.
This is a wonderful middle-grade fantasy that explores bereavement, contested religious beliefs, and familial estrangement. The novel introduces Yoruba mythology wrapped in a positive view of village life. A cast of young and older characters round out the story adding color, zest and humor. Traore has created a valuable novel that addresses issues many adolescents face in contemporary times. Significant discussions can be generated from this book which apply not only to Nigeria.
Reviewed by Patricia Kuntz, Ph. D. and Brenda Randolph, M.A., M.L.S.
Published in Africa Access Review (January 24, 2023)
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