Seedlings

by Curtis Ackie, Brianna McCarthy (Illustrator)

An innominate girl in search of a name, a sorcerer who yearns to protect, the child who can’t stop growing and a father who holds the shape of water...

Written by black British fantastical fiction author Curtis Ackie, SEEDLINGS consists of nine enchanted neo-fables rooted in West Indian folklore. Each tale is accompanied by an enthralling colour illustration by Trinidadian mixed media visual communicator Brianna McCarthy.

108 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2022

About the author

Curtis Ackie is a novelist, short story writer and poet with a penchant for alliteration and all things surreal. He is not the type of Magical Negro you're used to.

Reviews

[Ms. Woc Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to rate this one because story collections are such a mixed bag. The writing style was very different than my usual reads. As someone who is of Caribbean descent but lives in the US in an area without a large Caribbean population I wasn't used to hearing the stories and fables my Caribbean cousins are used to. So it was a different experience to be immersed in these tales. I enjoyed the warm that exuded from the communities in these tales. The standout stories for me were The Lost City of Taui, Sweet Larveau, The Ligaroot Tree, and Bilio, Tek Time.

[Lydia Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my friends at Formy Books told me about Seedlings and kindly gifted me a copy as she knows I’m very much into fiction for young adults. I haven’t read many short stories, but Seedling was such a beautiful introduction into the power that short stories can have when executed in the right way.

Seedlings by Curtis Ackie features 9 neo-fables rooted in West Indian folklore. Being of Jamaican heritage, I grew up on many stories that were handed down through the generations and would enjoy hearing these types of stories from my dad and my late grandma. They say it’s important to document stories of our heritage and so its so beautiful to see fiction inspired by West Indian folklore written down in print as this can now be something that can be shared with generations to come.

Firstly, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and there is an equally beautiful illustration to accompany each short story, illustrated by Brianna McCarthy. The font used is also so friendly and accessible, as someone who is very animated and learns best through reading aloud, I found the font and style helped me to also release my inner child whilst reading!

My favourite fables are “Topaz” and “Uya’s Touchstone”. I also really loved “The Ligaroot Tree” which is probably the shortest story in Seedlings. There is so much colour, vibrancy and charm to these stories and Curtis Ackie shows such skill in building descriptive worlds and images in just a few pages. I loved Seedlings and honestly, it makes me really excited to have children to read these stories to them at bedtime! I’ll definitely be sharing these stories with the children and young people I am blessed to know. Thank you Curtis Ackie!

[Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seedlings is a beautiful, creative, and accessible reimagining of lost of West Indian folktales. In the first story, I felt so seen as the main character listed the qualities of different animals and noting their likes and dislikes. The clever thing about the different stories is that you move from character to plot to world building very seamlessly. Brianna McCarthy’s illustrations bookmark each chapter and I was particularly drawn to “The Ligaroot Tree” which I hadn’t seen in the promos for the book. It is perhaps the shortest story in the book and yet so much about care, community, and remembering. I don’t think we layer books with the subtle ways we keep our stories alive beyond our family units enough. That was so nice to see. I think “Topaz” was my other favourite. As the character merges with the island and then protects her people, I got all the feelings.

As well as being a charming and easy read, Seedlings doesn’t shy away from complicated language. When I was young, I would have loved to learn what “hyperbolic” means and drop it into sentences all over the place! Also, this is the first time I (a neurodivergent reader who is dyslexic) have read in the font specifically intended for readers like me. At first, I was dismayed by it being “ugly” but actually, I got no text burnout reading the book in one sitting so that’s an incredible hidden bonus for me.

Overall, it’s a lovely collection of folklore, retelling, West Indian rep, kinship, magic, spirituality, and mystery. This would be a great introduction to the short story format and is one I’ll be keeping on the shelves to read to smaller people in my life.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!
I absolutely love this book, from the amazing front cover to the soft feel of the pages. Having spent the first 7 years of my life in the Caribbean it bought back some memories of me sitting on my Uncles veranda with just an oil lamp burning and me listening attentively. The tales in Seedlings transcended me back to that time. So beautifully put together. Hard to choose a favourite. ‘The Ligaroot Tree, ‘Uya’s Touchstone and Topaz! This does not take away from the other beautiful tales. The illustrations fit so well. Beautiful. Will revisit again and again.

[lostcupofstars · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so endearing. It’s so easy to reread and so hard to pick a favourite! At the moment mine is probably The Lost City of Taui, but it changes often lol. I wish we had more books like this; I will be holding on to it to read to my future children (after of course reading it myself at least another 10 times)

This book is also very well edited 👀