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A review by thebookishfeminist
Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron
5.0
I yelped when I saw that my request for this ARC had been approved. I kind of wish I were exaggerating! And MAYA AND THE RISING DARK did not disappoint. This is a nearly perfect book. It features Maya, a 12-year-old girl who lives on the South Side of Chicago and who goes on a search for her missing father. Maya experiences some strange, fantastical things before she's thrust into a world of Orishas and Dark Magic and sets out to save her neighborhood.
The intersections and representation in this book are just seamless and those nuanced, fully integrated exposures to the characters' cultures and identities make MAYA feel revolutionary. Barron truly crafted a masterpiece. We learn about Orishas, we are exposed to the realities - both the challenges and the beautiful community - of living on the South Side and are immersed in a primarily Black and Brown neighborhood filled with diverse characters and cultures. We see youth working together to save their community as they learn about themselves, their families, and their ancestors. We see BIPOC adults who are in all sorts of professions. We see BIPOC kids who have a full range of strengths and challenges. This is exactly the kind of implicit and integrated representation that we as a culture and youth as a demographic need to be exposed to and immersed in. And Barron created this world for us.
And what an exciting ride we go on through that world! I think middle-grade and YA readers will be completely enthralled by Maya, Frankie, Eli, the Orishas, the darker side of the magical world, and the mission to save a community. The friends all discover their own inherent powers, powers that have been passed down to them from their ancestors. This element is a beautiful way of showing children whose ancestors faced oppression, enslavement, genocide, had their land stolen from them, and all of the other atrocities our societies continue to commit on Black and Brown lives that there is power, beauty, possibility, and love in their veins that's been given to them from their ancestors. It's a way of turning the script on colonialist power structures and allowing children to feel connected to their diverse identities no matter how hard those colonialist mechanisms try to disenfranchise and disconnect them.
But all of that is implicit. Barron shows us rather than merely describes to us Maya's world, her and her family's connection to their community and their ancestors, the power of youth coming together, the power of recognizing your own strength and potential, and the worlds that open when children are empowered, represented, and connected.
Add to all of this the fact that Barron has created a perfectly fantastical world filled with magic, the nuanced realities of good vs. evil, and an exciting adventure centered around youth and you have a true work of art. I am so excited for children around the world to read this tale of Maya and her friends and family, of community, of ancestors. It's a story that implicitly refuses to prop up and perpetuate harmful systems and oppressive structures and instead shows us that raising a generation of children who value themselves, value where they came from, and value those same things in others is the ultimate way to decolonize and uplift. I am endlessly grateful to MAYA AND THE RISING DARK for helping me see that even more clearly.
And gratitude to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an advance copy of this book. My review is completely unbiased.
The intersections and representation in this book are just seamless and those nuanced, fully integrated exposures to the characters' cultures and identities make MAYA feel revolutionary. Barron truly crafted a masterpiece. We learn about Orishas, we are exposed to the realities - both the challenges and the beautiful community - of living on the South Side and are immersed in a primarily Black and Brown neighborhood filled with diverse characters and cultures. We see youth working together to save their community as they learn about themselves, their families, and their ancestors. We see BIPOC adults who are in all sorts of professions. We see BIPOC kids who have a full range of strengths and challenges. This is exactly the kind of implicit and integrated representation that we as a culture and youth as a demographic need to be exposed to and immersed in. And Barron created this world for us.
And what an exciting ride we go on through that world! I think middle-grade and YA readers will be completely enthralled by Maya, Frankie, Eli, the Orishas, the darker side of the magical world, and the mission to save a community. The friends all discover their own inherent powers, powers that have been passed down to them from their ancestors. This element is a beautiful way of showing children whose ancestors faced oppression, enslavement, genocide, had their land stolen from them, and all of the other atrocities our societies continue to commit on Black and Brown lives that there is power, beauty, possibility, and love in their veins that's been given to them from their ancestors. It's a way of turning the script on colonialist power structures and allowing children to feel connected to their diverse identities no matter how hard those colonialist mechanisms try to disenfranchise and disconnect them.
But all of that is implicit. Barron shows us rather than merely describes to us Maya's world, her and her family's connection to their community and their ancestors, the power of youth coming together, the power of recognizing your own strength and potential, and the worlds that open when children are empowered, represented, and connected.
Add to all of this the fact that Barron has created a perfectly fantastical world filled with magic, the nuanced realities of good vs. evil, and an exciting adventure centered around youth and you have a true work of art. I am so excited for children around the world to read this tale of Maya and her friends and family, of community, of ancestors. It's a story that implicitly refuses to prop up and perpetuate harmful systems and oppressive structures and instead shows us that raising a generation of children who value themselves, value where they came from, and value those same things in others is the ultimate way to decolonize and uplift. I am endlessly grateful to MAYA AND THE RISING DARK for helping me see that even more clearly.
And gratitude to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an advance copy of this book. My review is completely unbiased.