The Scenic Route

By Nnedi Okorafor

In this spellbinding short story, join Akata Witch’s Sunny and Sasha on an adventure through the unexpected.

During a quick jaunt to the United States, Sunny and Sasha embark on a tour of Chicago that is unlike any other! From the bottom of Lake Michigan to the top of the city’s most famous skyscraper, their wild ride reveals mystical secrets of the city that are only viewable to those in the know.

In The Scenic Route, award-winning writer Nnedi Okorafor weaves an enthralling short story starring the beloved characters from Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, and Akata Woman. Books from the Nsibidi Scripts series have been New York Times bestsellers and hailed by Time magazine as part of their “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time” and “100 Best YA Books of All Time” lists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Dec 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9780593528587

Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor is an award-winning novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism. Born in the US to Nigerian immigrant parents, Okorafor is known for weaving African cultures into creative settings and memorable characters. Her book, Who Fears Death has been optioned by HBO, with Game of Thrones' George R.R. Martin as executive producer. Okorafor is a full-time professor at the University at Buffalo, New York (SUNY).  

Book preview

Cover for The Scenic Route, Author, Nnedi OkoraforBook Title, The Scenic Route, Author, Nnedi Okorafor, Imprint, Viking Books for Young Readers

VIKING

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021

Copyright © 2021 by Nnedi Okorafor

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Ebook ISBN 9780593528587

Design by Jim Hoover, adapted for ebook by Michelle Quintero

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

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Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

The Scenic Route

About the Author

Dedicated to the cats and owls of Nigeria. May they all have peaceful, joyous, long lives and have powerful adventures on the spirit roads.

What is a Leopard Person?

A Leopard Person goes by many names around the world. The term Leopard Person is a West African coinage, derived from the Efik term ekpe, leopard. All people of mystical true ability are Leopard People.

—from Fast Facts for Free Agents by Isong Abong Effiong Isong

Walking into baggage claim at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago was . . . strange. Sunny had been to this sprawling and confusing place a few times on her way to other places, so it wasn’t that it was unfamiliar. It had just been a long