A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
Tavia and Effie find it hard to navigate the trials of high school while being Black and living in a part of Portland with a very small Black community. If that didn’t make it hard enough, some Black women have the special heritage of Sirens, seen as a danger to the community because of the “persuasiveness” of their calls. Tavia has had to go her entire life hiding who she is and being ashamed of her Siren heritage. This year at high school is much worse, however, as there is a murder trial underway that can rock Tavia’s world to the core, her race AND her Siren heritage being blamed for the causation. On the other side of the coin, you have Effie, who has never known the truth of her past or who she is. She’s changing, she can feel it, strange and terrifying things are happening all around her and the one thing that keeps her grounded, playing a mermaid at the Ren Faire, may be the one thing that will turn her life upside down. They must lean on each other to make it through and figure out who they are and who they want to be.
"Summer reads" to me mean something fantastic, something out of this world, something that makes life seem so much more interesting and magical, something that can only be experienced in the summer. Summer, those warm hazy few months (roughly 2.5 if you live in the prairies?) where anything is possible and myths and legends come to life. What encompasses that better than a story about under-water creatures? Bethany C. Morrow created the perfect world to dive into in the midst of summer that kept me flipping pages until I was done and left wanting more.
A Song Below Water is a story of two sisters (chosen, not blood) and how the strength of friendship and love can overcome any trial. I am beyond thankful for all the Black Author recommendation lists that have been circulating around Instagram because if they hadn’t, I probably would never have come across this book (I tend to stray away from YA fiction now that high school seems like such a distant memory). It’s one of the best YA fictions I’ve ever read. There were so many important topics and lessons that would make it a fantastic book to be included in school curriculum’s. A way to teach important issues while keeping kids interested in the fictional aspects of the story. The two sisters in this book, Tavia and Effie, face a myriad of topics relevant to today’s society including bullying, classism, racism, activism, hate, and love. There was everything to love about this book and absolutely nothing to hate…. for me anyway! The folklore behind every person in this book was so detailed and unique. I’ve never heard much of Siren folklore (yes they’re different from mermaids!) and I had to Google what Elokos are (awesome magical forest dwellers with origins in Africa) but it all came together in this amazing fairytale world that lives and interacts in modern-day society as if it had always been that way, I absolutely loved it.
Morrow covered so many important themes and issues relevant to what is going on in the world today. I liked that even though it was a fictional world, it was set inside a real one. It took place in Portland, it had familiar areas and landmarks, and real situations and examples were used to emphasize the importance of the issues taking place in the novel. For example, there’s a part of this book where one of our heroines, a young Black woman, is pulled over by the cops, asked to exit the car without giving reason why she was pulled over and intimating her with guns on full display. It transported you, for the briefest glimpse of time, into seeing a fraction of what it’s like for a marginalized person to be so blatantly discriminated against. They terrified this teenage girl just because of their own prejudices, and this specific occurrence may have been fictional but it’s happened in real life to real people countless times. There was also parts of the book where the white teacher in a predominately white class bends wording and rules and points of view to subliminally teach students a wrong and biased history, which also happens way too often in real life, while our main characters had to sit there and feel alienated in a place that’s supposed to be a safe haven. These topics are important to learn, it’s important to hear these stories and to share them with youth in schools so they can understand why that is not ok and to inspire them to be better, to help make a change.
This book was a fantastic and important read and, although it’s classified YA, I think all ages could enjoy it and learn from it. The fantasy element kept me hooked, the Siren/Mermaid aspect made it perfect for summer, and the relevant social issues made it an important read for current times. Five stars definitely.