In Absolute Agreement with @NicolaYoon, @SkinOfTheSea is "Epic and original." It Is Also Brilliantly Written, Stellar, Engaging, and Timely

I need more time to sit with Natasha Bowen's Skin of the Sea. Actually, I need to reread. I actually listened to this book on my way back from Syracuse and around town since. Every second of the narrative read by Yetide Badaki has been the highlight of 2021 (that's when I started it) and will most likely be the highlight of 2022. It took me years to grow fond of audio books, because I read with pens, sticky notes, and highlighters, which I can't do while listening. It's okay, though. Because the artistry of Yetide Badaki's voice was introduced to me - what a reader! It matched perfectly with a book that, in my opinion, deserves more than its New York Times best-selling status. I don't have a way to get such a book on the radar of the numerous award committees I follow, but I don't think I know of another text that is accomplishing, has accomplished, what it has set out to do. It is clever, poignant, and original. I loved the entire arc.

I am channeling students of yesteryear when I did a brief Disney unit and ruined The Little Mermaid for them. When I had students analyze subliminal meanings behind the cartoon (a unit on critical thinking and questioning), they often concluded thoughts about Ariel that were similar to my own. The unconscious messaging of giving up one's voice for a man, and the slapstick cruelty of a muscular, Neptune, King of Triton, who slaps an Islander-speaking crab plants cultural seeds that are engrained in the minds of children. The students, too, became critical of the way Sebastian is portrayed and treated by a "God." Ah, narratives. Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter. 

A few years later, during a unit on Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, when we read African myths and folktales recorded by anthropologists around the world, my students also made connections to storytelling traditions, narrative positioning, and how the written text overtook oral traditions. Gathering and speaking forth tales is universal. Not all cultures, though, put the stories to text forms - they did so through art, carvings, dance, and fabric.

I don't think many of us in my circle of literacy scholars have had a book such as Skin of the Sea to do what it achieves. A way to survive. A way to serve. A way to save. Simi, a Mama Wati (mermaid) collects souls of those who die at the sea and blesses their journey home. Yet, this story shares is about emotions, strength, understanding, and exploration. It is a "What if" that explores the human bodies cast off of slave ship that was intended to arrive to the Americas. Through tapping African folklore and traditions, Natasha Bowen has brought a book to the canon of YA fantasy and imagination in a way I've yet to experience as a reader. Perhaps, more than any other part of the book, the author's note at the end of the audio recording was the most powerful. 

Representation matters. 

Storytelling matters. 

Retelling stories to counter ideological constructions within Western societies is a necessity. To uphold one tradition with particular viewpoints, glorification, and feel-good narration does little to address reality, truth, facts, and history. This is the greatest achievement of the book. I will be celebrating Skin of the Sea within the talks I give, through scholars I collaborate with, and teachers who understand the importance of #WeNeedDiverseBooks. I am tapping my inner K-12 teacher, too, wanting to bring the story forward to young people, especially with the question, "Who gets to tell stories? Who has not, historically, been allowed? Who haven't we been hearing?"

It's simply critical thinking.

The book cover, too, is exquisite. The originality, yet familiarity, of the story is superb. Skin of the Sean is simply is an incredible, brilliant book. Young people around the world will simply adore and love the work for the way it sparks imagination and offers space to explore stories of their own (in the same way Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid became central to Natasha Bowen's childhood). 

This is just a blog - a space for me to think through thoughts while in the Karalvan of 2022. Obviously I can't use this space to dig deeper into the characters, themes, triumphs, and hope for future storytellers - but I will in my academic work. For now, I am simply thrilled Skin of the Sea exists - Congratulations to Random House Children's Book for seeing the gift of this writing - definitely a favorite, one I'll be rethinking, thinking again, and returning to with thought. It's that clever.

Now...Awards committees? Are you listening? You better be reading and taking notice. Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen is something special that we've not seen (so much so, I've been messaging some of my other favorite writers to say, "This is the book. It's worth your time." 

And I'm ready for Hollywood to take it on, so I can see it cinematically. But it can't be just any director or any actors. It needs to be a box office sensation - one to match the quality of Natasha Bowen's storytelling.

Check out NPR's feature on Skin of the Sea from October 28, 2021.