There Flies the Witch

Red, a tween with brown skin, seeks to uncover the origins of her past in this literary read by Paasewe-Valchev (The Leopard Behind the Moon). Red's mother Yakaka, a powerful witch, travels the world with majestic wings, using magic to mend ecological disasters. Red accompanies her safely on her back, all the while struggling to understand who she really is, since she doesn't have innate powers or wings like her mother. Red believes that her recurring nightmare, in which she's alone in an empty, foggy field, holds clues "about who I truthfully am." But Yakaka insists she focus instead on tapping into her magic. After Red and Yakaka suddenly fall out of the sky and into the ocean, Yakaka abandons Red on an unfamiliar beach where she meets a boy who suggests she stay with him and his mother. As Red settles in with the family she still wonders: where did Yakaka go and why did she leave Red here? Through Red's mesmeric narration, rendered in lilting prose, Paasewe-Valchev crafts an imaginative story that feels at once otherworldly and inherently grounded in familiar themes of family, forgiveness, and self-discovery. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sara Megibow, KT Literary. (May)

"A girl seeks a sense of belonging and the truth about her identity. . . . The descriptions of the setting evoke a faraway land, both idyllic in its natural beauty and containing lurking dangers and existing outside of time in a way reminiscent of folklore. Red's story expands on themes of family, love, self-identity, forgiveness, and growth in this novel that will appeal to sophisticated readers. A dreamy story that reads like an extended folktale." — Kirkus