THE CHAMPION

A boy who can fly undertakes an incredible journey to save his dying mother in this fantasy.

Twelve-year-old Calvin Khumalo, the son of an industrious single mother, has a secret. He can fly. In vivid, soulful language—the hallmark of this unusual tale—Rajah conveys the euphoria Calvin feels as he soars into the sky before sunup and sits cross-legged in the air, watching the sky change “from the deep blue of dawn to a pinkish bronze. The sun wraps its arms around everything in the chilly morning: the mountains, the school, even the dairy farms.” Calvin’s ability to fly came to him in tandem with nightmares about being trapped and threatened by dark forces. It also led him to his mentor in the mountains, Athwall, a benign, 1,000-year-old creature of myth with shaggy blue fur and fangs, who tells Calvin he has been chosen to save the world. But all Calvin wants to do is to save his mother. Diagnosed with terminal heart disease, she hasn’t enough time to wait for a transplant. (A compassionate doctor and realistic information about the function of body and brain—saved from textbook dryness by Calvin’s sense of wonder—appear to be grounded in the South African author’s own experience as a pediatrician.) Athwall tells Calvin of a heart that resides inside the ancient, magical Heart Tree on a mountaintop guarded by a savage beast and that they must confront other terrible dangers (described in chilling detail) in order to reach it. As Calvin, his weakening mother, and Athwall undertake this perilous quest, the boy wrestles with a moral dilemma. If he takes the heart from the Heart Tree to save his mother, he will kill the tree and all life that springs from it. If he doesn’t, his mother will die. He is haunted, too, by horrific nightmares about what fate awaits him when he meets the tree’s demon protector. (While not gratuitous, these visions contain graphic violence that could disturb younger readers.) Although there are hints, the major twist that comes is as touching as it is unexpected. Readers should have a box of tissues nearby.

An evocative, almost dreamlike mix of dark fantasy and moving reality.