Akata Witch

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue-Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. What does Sunny remember saving her when she was very sick as a toddler?

2. What book is quoted at the beginning of Chapter 1?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What unusual thing happens when Sunny lights a candle in the Prologue?

2. What evidence is there in Chapter 1 that the students in Sunny’s school dislike her because she was born in America?

3. What is the purpose of the juju that Orlu, Sunny, and Chichi perform at Orlu’s house?

Paired Resource

“Joy, a Refugee with Albinism, Fights Against Discrimination”

• This brief article from InfoMigrants profiles a young Italian immigrant whose albinism made her the target of kidnappers in her native Nigeria.
• This resource relates to the themes of The Importance of Belonging to Communities and The Strength of the Individual.
• What dangers and prejudices do people with albinism face in Nigeria? What does Joy think about the situation in Nigeria for those with albinism? How has her path to Italy demonstrated her strength and courage? How is Sunny’s situation like and unlike Joy’s situation? How is Sunny’s situation further complicated by her birth outside of Nigeria?

Chapters 3-5

Reading Check

1. What do the Leopard People call their currency?

2. Who buys Sunny a copy of Fast Facts for Free Agents?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

Why has Sasha been sent to stay in Nigeria?

1. Why does Sasha think that the four friends would make a good coven?

2. When Sunny is feeling guilty for worrying her mother by being late, why does she not just explain where she was and what she was doing?

Paired Resource

“In Nigeria, Ancestral Spirituality Resurges”

• This 11-minute VICE News documentary discusses young Nigerians’ increasing interest in traditional African religious beliefs.
• This resource relates to the theme of The Importance of Belonging to Communities.
• How are the religious practices depicted in this video similar to and different from the religious practices Sunny is learning about? What makes the young man afraid to talk to his sister about his new religious practices? How is this similar to Sunny’s feelings in Chapter 5? How does Sunny’s discovery of her secret identity impact her sense of belonging?

Chapters 6-8

Reading Check

According to Anatov, what gives Sunny the ability to connect with the spirit world, turn invisible, and see into the future?

1. Where does Kehinde live?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What offends Sunny about the writing in Fast Facts for Free Agents?

2. When Sunny gets angry about the dangerous journey to see Kehinde, what does Kehinde tell her?

3. When Sunny is at school in Chapter 8, what tempts her to almost break a Leopard rule, and what prevents her from actually doing it?

Chapters 9-11

Reading Check

1. Which of the four friends does Kehinde decide to mentor?

2. In Chapter 11, where does Anatov announce that he plans to take Sunny and the others overnight on the following Saturday?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What do Sunny and her friends learn about Black Hat Otokoto from their visit to Taiwo in Chapter 9?

2. What does Sunny learn about her grandmother and Black Hat Otokoto from her conversation with Sugar Cream in Chapter 10?

3. When Sunny is worried about how she will get away from home for the trip with Anatov, how do she and Chichi solve the problem?

Paired Resource

“Anansi – the Trickster Spider-Man of West Africa”

• This article tells the story of how Anansi acquired stories for humankind and gives excellent background information on the trickster-spider storytelling tradition of West Africa.
• This resource relates to the theme of The Value and Power of Knowledge.
• What relationship does Anansi have to storytelling? How important do stories seem to be to West African culture and to the African diaspora? Why do so many more people around the world know this Akan trickster spider than know about the Igbo trickster spider, Udide? How is Anansi like and unlike Udide? Do stories seem to have the same role in preserving culture and transmitting knowledge in Akata Witch?

Chapters 12-15

Reading Check

1. What distinctive name does the funky bus’s driver have?

2. What position does Sunny play on the green soccer team?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. During the trip to Abuja, what evidence shows that Sunny faces discrimination because of her sex?

2. How does Sunny meet Miknikstic?

3. At the student social, what does Chichi use juju to do that causes chaos among the students?

Paired Resource

“Top 5 Most Popular Masquerades in Nigeria”

• This 5-minute video from Africa Scope shares clips of five popular masquerades in Nigeria and offers some explanatory commentary.
• This resource relates to the theme of The Importance of Belonging to Communities.
• What does the term “masquerade” refer to in Nigerian culture? How are real-life masquerades similar to and different from the masquerades Okorafor has incorporated into Akata Witch? What does seeing these masquerades in action in the video add to your understanding of the events of Chapter 15? How do Chichi’s actions in this chapter violate the trust of the community she belongs to?

Chapters 16-18

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 16, what American relative does Sunny try to ask about her grandmother?

2. In Chapter 18, who is sitting at the table with Sunny’s mother when Sunny comes into the kitchen in the morning?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What creature hatches from the bean the junk man gives Sunny, and what does the creature do when Sunny gives it some biscuits?

2. What worries Orlu about Chichi and Sasha’s behavior after Chichi is punished for calling the masquerade?

3. At the meeting in Chapter 18, what do Sunny and her friends find out about Black Hat Otokoto’s plans?

Chapters 19-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. What does Sunny’s mother find in Sunny’s room that reminds her of Sunny’s grandmother?

2. In Chapter 22, what does Della make a sculpture of?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. At the gas station, what does Sasha do to distract Black Hat Otokoto so that Sunny and Orlu can retrieve the two toddlers?

2. How does Sunny’s grandmother play an active role in the defeat of Black Hat Otokoto?

3. In the book’s Epilogue, how is Sunny’s attitude toward preparing for the next Leopard-level test different from Chichi’s and Sasha’s?

Recommended Next Reads

Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor

• Akata Warrior continues Sunny’s adventures a year after the events of Akata Witch. Sunny and her friends in the Leopard Society travel to a mysterious town, Osisi, where they fight again to save humanity.
• Shared themes include The Value and Power of Knowledge, The Importance of Belonging to Communities, and The Strength of the Individual.
• Shared topics include West Africa, Nigeria, Igbo culture, mythology, magic, fantasy, adventure, bullying, discrimination, friendship, and teamwork.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

• After 16-year-old Deka is discovered to have the golden blood that marks outcasts in her village, she must choose between staying to face a terrible future or leaving everything she has known behind for a chance to defend the empire as an alaki warrior.
• Shared themes include The Value and Power of Knowledge, The Importance of Belonging to Communities, and The Strength of the Individual.
• Shared topics include West Africa, mythology, magic, fantasy, adventure, discrimination, friendship, and teamwork.
• The Gilded Ones on SuperSummary