Kiki’s Delivery Service meets Black Panther in this middle grade fantasy set in a richly imagined world where once-enslaved people have built an enchanted network of hidden witch communities.

Anyone can become a witch in Missen Dessalin. If you can find the Missen, that is. Some say the whole reason it was called a “Missen” is because it was a gathering place for those who wanted to stay missin’.

Twelve-year-old Airrelle Bookman, born and raised in Missen Dessalin by two witch parents, has been waiting for magic to call to her for years now. She just has to secure her four patron animals, complete four rites, master four skills, and pass the initiation ceremony. Then she’ll be a fully confirmed maroon witch, able to fly beyond the walls of the Missen as she pleases. Just like her parents, older siblings, and best friend Hosniya.

When the time for her trial finally seems to arrive, so do familial troubles and threats to the very safety and secrecy of Missen Dessalin itself. But an ordinary girl from beyond the protected walls of Missen, one who has grown up in our own tumultuous and unenchanted world, may just be the key to Airrelle’s troubles.

Informed by the history of maroon societies and inspired by the fantasy worlds of Studio Ghibli, Airrelle of the Maroon Witches is a beautiful coming of age story about a shy but resourceful girl discovering her own power.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection