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Wayetu Moore Books In Order

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Publication Order of Standalone Novels

She Would Be King (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

The Dragons, the Giant, the Women (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon

Wayetu Moore is a Liberian born author of historical fiction/magical realism books best known for her debut novel. She Would Be King. Born in a family of five siblings, Moore’s mother, Mamawa Moore, is a professor at the University of Liberia and a director of the undergraduate honors program. Her father is a dean of The College of Engineering at the University of Liberia and also a professor of engineering. Wayetu Moore spent her childhood days in Monrovia after her family escaped Liberia due to the civil war crisis. They stayed for several weeks in the forest before they got shelter in a rural village. At that time her mother was schooling at Columbia University and had no idea of what her family was going through.

Wayetu Moore is a graduate of Howard University and holds masters of fine arts from University of Southern California. She and her siblings founded One Moore Book which is a publishing company which is not profit based to provide relevant books to help children who have no access to books. Her first book, She Would Be King, is based on the theme of magical realism where the protagonist is superhuman. She would be king explores the history of Liberia. The author has also written some bestselling picture books including I Love Liberia, My Little Muse and A Gift for Yole.

She Would Be King

She Would Be King is Wayetu Moore’s debut novel; this fantastic and thrilling book has focused on the19th-century politics. It features three main characters who do not share any common bond; June Dey, Norman Aragon, and Gbessa. June Dey is a son of a ghost and an American slave and spent her childhood on a plantation in Virginia. Norman Aragon whose father was one of the British colonizers of Jamaica and his mother is a maroon slave woman has an extraordinary power of fading from sight which he uses to battle with the colonialism agents and the slave masters. His mother shares his power and whispers to him about their freedom when they arrived in Africa, then Gbessa, a girl who was very beautiful was cursed and cast out of her West African home village in Lai by her inhuman family members into the wilderness and left there to die there, but she eventually survives because she was immortal.

Gbessa notices her immortality as soon as she is condemned and exiled from the village otherwise she would not have noticed her gift. These three characters are very courageous but are primarily affected by the violence that came from the slavery, greed and the extreme unfriendliness within the local tribes from the colonizers. The three meet each other in Monrovia in a settlement camp; they use their powers to rescue the relationship of the African American settlers, and the native tribes as a new nation start to surround them. They all desire to be free from slavery and persecution. Moore finds a certain voice in the spirit of the wind who incorporates early wisdom.

June Dey was brought up on a plantation hides his powers until he argued with the supervisor who forces him to escape. He thought that he would live the life of a slave and he becomes furious when his mother passed out. Thorough whipping can neither tear his skin nor can a large number of men keep him chained. She Would Be King is a combination of fantasy, magical realism, and history showing the deafening roots from settlements to the creations of Liberia. The book narrates about the persecution and the hardships faced by the African community. These settings bring shading to the historical colonization events and the slave business pointing out the various challenges faced.

The main goal of She Would Be King was exploring the history of Liberia, color, and complexity in a written form by discussing the group of people who lived there before. In order to achieve this Wayetu Moore had to discuss the groups that were before Liberia was reformed. Liberia became a country when some Americans and some Carribeans moved from their countries and settled into the region. The native groups of people, however, had many years ago had some systems of government that were in existence. This interesting book shows the many voices which are in the Liberians founding refraining them from patriotism that helps recognize the intense changes in the brave spirit of the early nation of Liberia.

The main characters allow the author to explore the central regions of the slave business: the maroon community, South America and the native tribes in the western coast of Africa. These regions led to the foundation of Liberia and today’s Sierra Leone. The author was inspired by an old woman-her mother who beat her cat until it died which made the story of Gbessa. The context here is that of the slaves who were set free and then went back to their native land and their relationships with the other former slaves. They see this as home, but they have to come into terms because the place was initially occupied, other people. The people in that same place seem to have some similarities with them since the Liberians are mixed up, but they have different cultures and lifestyle. It becomes more difficult because of their mixed racial backgrounds, and this is a lot of disagreements in Liberia. Wayetu Moore tries to unveil what happens when certain group of people who were brutalized physically and mentally are set free

Wayetu Moore narrates the role of played by religion among the Africans and discovering the importance of the gifts they have which lead to rejection. She shows conversations of the good side and the bad side of native religion thinking and later the colonial thinking about religion after Gbessa, born a very superstitious context which was full of brutality from their traditions, converts to become a Christian. Christianity which was as a result of colonialism marked civility was adopted by the natives even though they knew that the western civility was different from their civility.

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