Sandestin

October 22, 2025

Afia in the Land of Wonders: Book Review

Afia in the Land of Wonders is a middle grade fantasy book written and illustrated by Mia Araujo. It is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and it was published this year, 2025. The story is about Afia, a sixteen-year-old girl who is dissatisfied with her life at home, a place called Dafra. Her mother and the rest of her family expect her to go through her ewende, which is her coming of age ceremony, and continue their crystal selling business. However, she yearns to explore the world, and wants more for her life. So when a young man named Bakame offers her an escape, she takes her chance and finds herself in the magical land of Ijábù. However, after being warned by a ghost boy named Ojike, she quickly discovers that not everything is as it seems, and she must escape this so-called “land of wonders.” The Non-Spoiler Review One thing I like about this book are the illustrations. Most of the images are fully colored and take up a page or two, while others are smaller pencil sketches. All o...

My family and I had gone to Sandestin to go to the beach. While we were in Sandestin, we had started to feel a bit weird, as I believe we were coughing and our throats felt somewhat dry or itchy, and our eyes watered a little. My mom had asked a lady at the desk of the hotel we were staying in what was happening and she said that it was red tide, which is a “higher-than-normal concentration of a microscopic alga” (Florida Red Tide FAQs). When we went to the beach, we found some dead fish washed up on the shore. After doing some research, I found out that these fish may have died from the red tide. This is because the red tide can produce toxins that can affect the central nervous system of fish, which can cause them to die (Florida Red Tide FAQs). Though the red tide caused us some irritation, our time at the beach was still enjoyable overall, as it was fun to be at the beach. I also managed to get some beautiful shots of the ocean waves, which was one thing I really enjoyed at the beach.

Sources

“Florida Red Tide FAQs” MOTE Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, https://mote.org/news/florida-red-tide. Accessed 1 June 2020.