Ankle-deep in the river.

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Sports? Hoops by Walter Dean Myers Ball Don’t Lie by Matt de la Peña

Romance? To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Action or Psychological Thriller? Fake ID by Lamar Giles Panic by Sharon M. Draper Pointe by Brandy Colbert Girl Stolen by April Henry

Funny? Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg Since You Asked by Maurene Goo Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gill

Adventure & Vicarious Travels? Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith Huntress by Malinda Lo Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Fantasy? City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster Devil’s Kiss by Sarwat Chadda Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Graphic Novels? The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang & Sonny Liew Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri and Randy DuBurke The Undertaking of Lily Chen by Danica Novgorodoff Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki

Dystopian & Science Fiction? Proxy by Alex London Control by Lydia Kang The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac Diverse Energies edited by Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti

"Universal Mother Yemaya" found on DeviantArt

Vodun was actively suppressed during colonial times.

"Many Priests were either killed or imprisoned, and their shrines destroyed, because of the threat they posed to Euro-Christian/Muslim dominion. This forced some of the Dahomeans to form Vodou Orders and to create underground societies, in order to continue the veneration of their ancestors, and the worship of their powerful gods."

The Affaire de Bizoton of 1864. The murder and alleged canibalization of her body by eight voodoo devotees caused a scandal worldwide and was taken as proof of the evil nature of voodoo even though the confessions that condemned the accused were obtained illegally by torture. Vodou has often been associated in popular culture with Satanism, witchcraft, zombies and “voodoo dolls”. Zombie creation has been referenced within rural Haitian culture,but is not a part of Vodou. Such manifestations fall under the auspices of the bokor or sorcerer, rather than the priest of the Loa. The practice of sticking pins in voodoo dolls has history in folk magic. “Voodoo dolls” are often associated with New Orleans Voodoo and Hoodoo as well the magical devices of the poppet and the nkisi or bocio of West and Central Africa.

The general fear of Vodou in the US can be traced back to the End of the Haitian Revolution (1791). There is a legend that Haitians were able to beat the French during the Haitian Revolution because their Vodou deities made them invincible. The US, seeing the tremendous potential Vodou had for rallying its followers and inciting them to action, feared the events at Bois-Caiman could spill over onto American soil. Fearing an uprising in opposition to the US occupation of Haiti, political and religious elites, along with Hollywood and the film industry, sought to trivialize the practice of Vodou. After the Haitian Revolution many Haitians fled as refugees to New Orleans. Free and enslaved Haitians who moved to New Orleans brought their religious beliefs with them and reinvigorated the Voodoo practices that were already present in the city. Eventually, Voodoo in New Orleans became hidden and the magical components were left present in the public sphere. This created what is called hoodoo in the southern part of the United States. Because hoodoo is folk magic, Voodoo and Afro-diasporic religions in the U.S. became synonymous with fraud. This is one origin of the stereotype that Haitian Vodou, New Orleans Voodoo, and hoodoo are all tricks used to make money off of the gullible. [47]

The elites preferred to view it as folklore in an attempt to render it relatively harmless as a curiosity that might continue to inspire music and dance.”[48]

Hollywood often depicts Vodou as evil and having ties to Satanic practices in movies such as The Skeleton Key, “The Devil’s Advocate”, The Blair Witch Project, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Child’s Play, Live and Let Die, and in children’s movies like The Princess and the Frog.