Review Detail

CURSE OF THE AKOMA STONE is an engaging chapter book fantasy. Kwame is excited for the upcoming Nkonyaa Games, and even more excited when he gets selected to compete. After his friends are turned into statues, Kwame will need to keep his wits about him as he figures out how to help them and who to trust.

What I loved: This is a fast-paced and engaging fantasy read. The story is one that young readers can relate to with Kwame looking forward to a competition, wanting to help his friends, and deciding who he can trust along the way. Of course, this also has lots of magic and a curse that add to the fun of the read and bring it to another level.

As a Branches book, there are illustrations on every page. This helps to break up the text and make the reading experience more enjoyable as independent readers can take a break to check out the images and bring additional context to the story. The illustrations are black and white, but they are full of detail and expressive characters that make them really fantastic throughout.

The font is a little larger and the story is broken into relatively short chapters, which is also helpful for independent chapter book readers. This one is a bit longer and has a lot of novel words with names/places that will help to stretch and advance children's reading skills.

Final verdict: With a consuming story and detailed illustrations, CURSE OF THE AKOMA STONE is a fast-paced and entertaining chapter book that will work well for independent readers who are beginning to advance.