Mayowa and the Sea of Words

Mayowa lives a happy life with her mum and dad in a flat in London. After Mum gets the chance to tour the U.S. playing the piano, and Dad needs to go with her (due to her being blind), it is decided that Mayowa will spend the holidays with her grandpa in deepest, darkest Dorset. Mayowa loves spending time with Grandpa. His grand old house is full of quirky deserted rooms with fancily decorated ceilings, massive overgrown gardens, trees to climb, little paths to follow and animal footprints to be found. It’s the perfect place for the perfect summer adventure and an adventure is most certainly what she is going to have, just not in the way she expects.

Mayowa has always known about her excentric Grandpa’s strange habit of jumping on books, along with her mum’s disapproval of it. But why does he do it? Why does Mum dislike it so much? No matter how much she pleads with Grandpa, he refuses to tell her the truth. But one day, after getting herself stuck in a tree, Mayowa sees him do something which means he has no choice but to explain everything. Mayowa discovers she (along with a lengthy line of ancestors) is a Lagosalter, meaning she has the power to take the emotions from a book and pass them on to other people. But what use is this ability going to be to a 10-year-old girl on holiday in Dorset?

On first glance, this book could seem like many other situational stories, dealing with relationships, families, cultural diversity, disability, immigration. But with the twist of magic running alongside the main story, it stands out from the crowd. And somehow even as an adult reading, the quality of the writing makes the magic seem acceptable. With other middle grade books, you prepare yourself to suspend disbelief for the farfetched elements, but it doesn’t seem so necessary with this book. At the bottom of many pages, you will fine footnotes, giving extra information/explaining what something means. This is a really nice touch and ensures any younger readers can follow a more complex part of the story (and any older ones may still learn something new). It deals with some extremely relevant topics in an informative way and without patronising the reader. A very special book that has the potential to go in so many directions.