IN DARKNESS, A SONG CAN LEAD THE WAY. BEWARE WHICH ONE YOU LISTEN TO. Abeni's Song by award-winning author P. Djèlí Clark is the enchanting beginning of an epic West African and African Diaspora-inspired fantasy adventure for middle-grade readers about a reluctant apprentice to magic and the stolen villagers she sets out to save. “Lush and magical.” —KWAME MBALIA • “Astonishing.” —MARK OSHIRO • "Abeni's story will sweep you away." —AMANDA FOODY On the day of the Harvest Festival, the old woman who lives in the forest appears in Abeni's village with a terrible message: You ignored my warnings. It’s too late to run. They are coming. Warriors with burning blades storm the village. A man with a cursed flute plays an impossibly alluring song. And everyone Abeni has ever known and loved is captured and marched toward far-off ghost ships set for even more distant lands. But not Abeni. Abeni is magically whisked away by the old woman. In the forest, Abeni begins her unwanted magical apprenticeship, her journey to escape the witch, and her impossible mission to bring her people home. Abeni’s Song is the beginning of a timeless, enchanting fantasy adventure about a reluctant apprentice, a team of spirit kids, and the village they set out to save.

The action-packed sequel to P. Djèlí Clark's astonishing middle grade debut, Abeni's Song. After rescuing the Children of Night, Abeni and her friends are in search of the elder spirits—who they hope can protect Asha. But before the group can reach their destination, they’re captured and held prisoner by the Kingdom of the Gold Spinners, whose magics manipulate gold to build and achieve wonders. To secure their freedom, the companions make an agreement to retrieve the kingdom’s sacred and mystical Golden Throne, the very soul of their people—said to be hidden in a lost city beneath the sands and guarded by a terrible dragon. For Abeni, the quest for the throne becomes a race against time—the only means to assure she and her friends do not suffer the fate of being turned into living statues of gold forever. But there are other dangers. The Witch Priest has learned of Asha’s existence and has sent his forces to find her. Leading this search is a mortal teenage girl, who the Witch Priest has adopted almost as a daughter. With a pack of minions including the frightening Bat Riders and new villains like the coldhearted Huntsman and his three monstrous hounds, she sets out after Abeni and her friends—driven by a determination to prove her own strength and worth, to both her unforgiving “father” and herself. Abeni will find herself facing these new challenges as she seeks to bring back the Golden Throne, evade the Witch Priest’s hunters, and fulfill her own quest to find the disappeared people of her village.