I enjoyed this middle school fantasy/mythology debut. The main character attends the school at which his mom is the principal. His dad is an undefeated lawyer. Of course, Kwame's parents have high expectations for his character and performance. Kwame's best friend, Autumn, is a Black and Korean girl who is hard of hearing. The best friends communicate with each other mainly with American Sign Language.

With the bulk of the book taking place in the Ghanaian underworld, Kwame and Autumn are mightily tested—physically, emotionally, and intellectually. They have to use their critical thinking skills to decide how best to answer these challenges. Sometimes they act alone; often they work together, along with Kwame's grandmother and others.

The climax is exciting; the ending is sweet. As the book progresses, Kwame gains perspective and matures.

I wasn't a superfan of the audiobook narrator, Joshua Quinn. He did well with Kwame's voice, but many of the other characters' accents sounded vaguely Asian, which was mostly wrong. Worse, some of the animal, gods, and paranormal characters' voices were a shrieky assault. I won’t hold a single performance against him.

It is unclear to me whether there might be a sequel planned. If there is, I would definitely consider reading it.

You might enjoy this book if you like to read middle grade fantasies that are exciting and thoughtful, without being gory.

I don't usually read middle grade, but I *adored* this book. This has cultural and emotional complexity intertwined with adventure and a great sense of humor. I laughed out loud AND cried while listening to the audiobook, which was performed beautifully.

Grief is something I am very picky about in fiction, especially anything with action and adventure because that grief usually seems to get ignored. This book is an exploration of grief and loss, but through a mythological adventure story. Even though the intended audience is kids, the descriptions of grief are as deep as what I've felt as an adult.

This is one of those books that I could probably go on and on about, from the way it captures the feelings of American-born children of immigrants as they get ready to visit their parents' homeland, to the amazing and complex character that is Autumn, to the descriptions of Autumn and Kwame's conversations in ASL. This is a book that is both fun and complex, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves mythology books or Percy Jackson.

Educator perspective: This has lots of action and is great for an independent read. If you use Percy Jackson for anything in class, this one needs to be up there with it. Actually, I hope I'm not committing some sort of middle grade heresy here, but I would argue this is better. I was not a fan of Percy Jackson (didn't like the annoying kid voice or the challenges), but I absolutely loved Kwame (his voice was hilarious and heartfelt, and the challenges had depth and some humor).

Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC!

Yes yes yes!! A+++++++++! This book was so beautifully written. The combination of dealing with the death of a loved one, mythology of a different culture and all from a teens point of view. The story was not terribly hard to follow even though I knew nothing about the Ghanaian culture. The growth Kwame had in dealing with his trauma of losing his grandma and accpeting his future is well done. I highly recommend this to any teen and adult.

Kwame Crashes the Underworld Truly had it all. This book was chopped full of adventure, magic, friendship, and Ghanaian mythology. It's main message focused on grief. How it can be all consuming and such a tough thing to process. But ultimately how we can accept/live alongside it.

The Ghanaian Underworld was such a fantastic setting. Each section of it posing a new trial for our heroes. Me personally, I really loved the giant cows and of course Woo.

There was so many different layers to the villains. Each of them in the midst of their own grief. I love how the author showed how this emotion can manifest in different ways; denial, anger, and depression. It really added depth.

I was also a big fan of the deaf/ASL representation. And how ASL was used as a tool on several occasions throughout the story. Autumn is such an incredible friend and warrior!

I must say I am so thoroughly impressed with this debut. And the narrator did such a fantastic job! This book is so incredibly engaging. I was completely wrapped up in it. I'm excited to see what Craig Kofi Farmer cones up with next! But seriously, more Kwame please and thank you.

Kwame is a 12 year old kid who loves video games, pizza, and spending time with his best friend Autumn. His parents are both high-achieving and expect excellence and consider suppressing emotions a big aspect of that.

When Kwame’s grandmother passes away, he finds himself struggling to cope with both the grief and his parents' expectations of controlling his emotions. The night before he leaves for his grandmother’s celebration of life, he finds himself chasing a mythical monkey into the Ghanaian underworld in an effort to hold onto the last piece he has left of his grandmother.

This book has heart, lots of humor, and is a fresh submission to the sub-genre of middle grade mythology books. I especially liked listening to the audiobook, as the pronunciations and voices were great to help me further envision the story,

There isn’t a single thing I didn’t absolutely love about Kwame Crashes the Underworld. I’m always on the lookout for fantasy inspired by African culture so I was very excited when I read that Craig Kofi Farmer’s debut was inspired by Ghanaian mythology. This story didn’t just live up to my already high expectations, it lived up to the title and crushed them.

The story explores important themes like grief, hope, identity, family, and culture. I was really happy that Farmer didn’t shy away from these topics in his MG debut but gave them the attention and care they deserved. So much in fact that even I, an adult, found the way these topics were handled in the story to be inspiring. So, hats off to the author.

But on the other hand, this is a very funny story. I found myself constantly laughing out loud. There is a line specifically that Kwame’s Mom said in the early chapters that had me rolling.

Speaking of which, Kwame was an awesome protagonist. As a son of immigrants myself, I was able to identify with his struggles since I lived through them myself when I was his age. But I also loved his resourcefulness, adaptability, intelligence, and courage. Really, he was just the type of protagonist one couldn’t help but get behind.

Autumn, however, was the highlight of the story for me. Her friendship with Kwame was so wholesome and inspiring. But to add to that, she was an incredible person in her own right, often dictating the narrative herself as she found her own strength. I really appreciate that the book didn’t treat her as the protagonist’s sidekick but rather as her own person with her own story that is just as important and valid.

The mythology aspect of the novel was fantastic. I wasn’t quite familiar with Ghanaian mythology, hence my search for stories inspired by African cultures. But quite honestly Kwame Crashes the Underworld inspired me to research this rich culture on my own. I found the integration into the story to be very well executed and I wasn’t lost for even a second. Quite the opposite. I was constantly looking forward to the new thing I was going to learn.

Kwame Crashes the Underworld is an incredible debut by Craig Kofi Farmer that will leave you screaming “woooooo!”

4.5 ⭐️

Kwame’s story is fun, entertaining, endearing and fresh. Kwame’s adventure with his very best friend had my attention from start to finish. I loved getting to learn about Ghanaian folklore. Their adventure takes them to Asamando - a vibrant and rich “beyond the veil” type place where souls go following death. Kwame getting more time with his grandmother was very sweet. This story is ultimately about grief, friendship, and how to emotionally mingle family culture and personal culture (there are likely much better terms for this, so I apologize for not being aware of them). I also really loved having deaf representation be so prominent in this story and how ASL was a true asset to the storyline. The audiobook narration was really enjoyable and should be considered by anyone planning to read this story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Craig Kofi Farmer, and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook ARC.

Thank you Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Young Listeners, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this great book. This engaging story has wonderful characters (one of whom is hard of hearing and signs and was written beautifully, with sensitivity and care), fast moving plot, and lots of action. It reminds me of Tristan Strong and is a great addition to the middle grade action adventure genre. Looking forward to sharing it with my students.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Craig Kofi Farmer, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this audiobook is Joshua Quinn. Joshua did an amazing job with this from the accents to the emotion in the voice during the narration. I truly enjoyed this narration.

This is a delightful middle grade adventure fantasy set in Ghanaian mythology. I am largely unfamiliar with Ghanaian mythological figures so this was a true treat. The representation in this felt organic and as a disabled reader I appreciated seeing a disabled character go on a heroes journey. The normalization of the kids use of sign language was wonderfully handled and didn't impact the flow of the narrative at all.

I'm a grandmother and I loved that this highlights the important role that grandparents can play in the life of their grandkids. I can not wait until my own grandkids are old enough for us to read this together.
I demand a sequel to this story🥰

Thank you to Craig Kofi Farmer, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

What an exuberant adventure full of heart! The story and writing all deliver on that incredible energy in the cover. Middle grade readers will love the voice of this book where a boy set to travel to his grandmother's memorial service in Ghana instead meets her in the underworld and embarks on an incredible quest tied to his family's destiny as protectors of the planet. Highly recommend!!!

This book reminded me of Tristan strong. It is one I can highly recommend to middle grade readers. There are themes of grief throughout the book but it is handled well. A great debut novel.