Wildseed Witch by Marti Dumas

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I feel like Wildseed Witch is a book I've been talking about forever. I received an arc from Abrams Kids last fall but I wanted to wait until closer to the release date to pick up. I was intrigued by the idea of a magical charm school for Black girls. I feel like this book will get compared to Amari and the Night Brothers simply because of the Black girls goes to magic school with rich kids concept but it's so different and people should set their expectations accordingly.

Hasani is a young girl who is very passionate about her Youtube channel and finding ways to grow it. She discovers she's a witch after a viral video and an invitation to attend a magical charm school. When she gets there she's soon realizes she's not like the other girls despite everyone having magical abilities. She's what they call a "wildseed", a witch who doesn't come from a strong legacy of witches and doesn't know how to control her powers. Most of the girls who she's attending the charm school with have been practicing magic for a couple of years. At Les Belles Demoiselles they are taught that magic is unruly and that charm is good and proper. She doesn't know the rules the other girls do and the faculty hasn't done the best job to prepare her. She's also insecure because all the girls are pretty and put together. She's seemed to miss the memo about colorful outfits with plenty of flowers.

I like how this book incorporated culture from Louisiana from real Creole to using the names of real cities and towns. I really liked Grandme Annette and her sage advice and lessons. One thing that stuck out to me is how the history of sugarcane is brought up in this story. Some witches at the school feel like they're rebelling against slavery by denouncing sugar while also having it on the table at every meal. And Grandme points out how silly that performative act is. That just because someone did an evil thing with a thing doesn't make the thing evil.

There was a lot of cattiness and competitiveness amongst the girls that felt unnecessary at times because this isn't the type of situation where the girls are competing for a particular title or spot. Most of the girls seem to also come from money too which is played up and down during this book depending on the scenes. Hasani's family isn't poor but they aren't rich either and her parents are into organic and sustainable. At the same time it did show the downside to popularity as Hasani uses her influence to make a name for herself and the girls seem to flock to whichever girl is most popular at the moment.

Hasani is not the easiest main character to love because she spends most of the story focused on her own interests. She has come to terms with her parent's separation yet so throughout the book she's also plotting ways to have them end up back together again. And I did like that he was allowed to be angry while also having to come to an understanding that her parents no longer make each other happy.

There were some sections where the pacing was a little slower than I would've liked I do think it's worth a read. The magic felt unique and there's some good lessons here about family and friendship. And it didn't go in a predictable direction. Overall I think young readers will enjoy.