2005 fantasy novel by Nnedi Okorafor
Zahrah the Windseeker is a young adult fantasy novel and the debut novel of Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor, published in September 2005. It incorporates Nigerian myths, folklore, and culture.[1] It is the winner of the 2008 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.[2]
Plot
The novel takes place in the fictional northern kingdom of Ooni, located on the planet Ginen, where technology is made using plants. Children who are born with Dada (dreadlocks) are despised because of an old rumor about them possessing magical abilities. The kingdom is enclosed by the forbidden greeny jungle.
Zahrah Tsami is thirteen years old and lives with her parents. She was born with Dada, which means vines grow among her hair, and she is often ridiculed by her peers, except for her best friend, Dari. Zahrah discovers her ability to fly as a windseeker, but she is afraid of heights, which makes her feel anxious.
During one of their secret trips to the greeny jungle to practice and explore with the aid of a digibook written by explorers, Dari is bitten by a snake and falls into a deep coma. The doctor prescribes a serum made from an unfertilized Elgort (a huge dinosaur-like creature) egg as the only cure for Dari's ailment.
Zahrah escapes from home with the digibook and her compass to the forbidden greeny jungle in order to obtain an Elgort egg. She meets the annoying shining pink frog and others who advise her to go back home. While in the jungle, Zahrah discovers that the chapter in the digibook containing information about the Elgort is broken and she cannot access it.
After staying in the village of the gorilla, where technology is forbidden, she is told that only the rude shining pink frog can tell her how to get an Elgort egg. Zahrah ventures into the forest again until she is met by Nsibidi, a windseeker who has come to take her home. Zahrah runs and comes across the pink frog, who finally tells her how to get the egg.
She succeeds in stealing an unfertilized Elgort egg and is able to fly just before the Elgort catches her. Zahrah heads back home, where she reunites with her parents, and the egg is used to create the serum that awakens Dari..
