Fantasy, verse, and Caribbean folklore meld in new young adult book "(S)kin"
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The CBS New York Book Club is spotlighting a new book for young adults that combines fantasy, Caribbean folklore, and poetic verse to tell the story of two teenage girls in Brooklyn an an emotional journey of self-discovery. The book is "(S)kin." Mary Calvi talked to author Ibi Zoboi about it.
The main characters are 15-year-old Marisol and 17-year-old Genevieve. Marisol is an immigrant.
"But because this is fantasy, we don't know exactly how she got here," Zoboi says.
Genevieve has lived in New York City her entire life.
"She comes from a very well-to-do family and she's living the American dream, while Marisol wants the American dream," Zoboi told Calvi. "When the two girls meet, they have to define what that American dream means for them."
The title of the book, "(S)kin," holds multiple meanings.
"In Caribbean folklore there is a shape-shifting witch who sheds her skin at night to fly across the sky as a fireball. It's a little bit of a vampire lore," Zoboi explained. "The two girls look very different and, as with all young people, teenage girls, they are grappling with issues of their skin, how they appear to others, beauty concepts, and who finds who more attractive. All of these are layered into the novel and plays on the folklore of shape-shifting witches who have to shed their skin."
The book also explores issues of identity.
"Marisol is grappling with what it means to be Caribbean, and how to hold on to her culture and her magic while her mother wants her to assimilate," Zoboi said. "Genevieve is grappling with who she is because there's another layer to her identity that she's just discovering."
Zoboi lives in New Jersey. She was raised in New York and was born in Haiti. She says she didn't grow up hearing Caribbean folktales. It wasn't until she asked her family members about the stories that they started to discuss them.
"Part of the immigrant identity is that we want to assimilate," Zoboi explained. "We want the American dream, so many times families leave those old stories behind, even though they can be powerful and serve as metaphors for life."
Zoboi hopes that young readers will get to see what it means to love their own skin by reading her book.
"Be the person that you are in your own skin," she said.
"(S)kin" is being released on Tuesday, February 11. You can read an excerpt, and purchase the book, below.
The CBS New York Book Club focuses on books connected to the Tri-State Area in their plots and/or authors. The books may contain adult themes.
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"(S)kin" by Ibi Zoboi
From the publisher:
"Our new home with its
thick walls and locked doors
wants me to stay trapped in my skin—
but I am fury and flame."
Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors.… While Marisol hoped they would leave their old traditions behind when they emigrated from the islands, she knows this will never happen while she remains ensnared by the one person who keeps her chained to her magical past—her mother.
Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies' constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. She hopes to quench the hunger that gnaws at her, one that seems to reach for some memory of her estranged mother. When a new nanny arrives to help with the twins, a family secret connecting her to Marisol is revealed, and Gen begins to find answers to questions she hasn't even thought to ask.
But the girls soon discover that the very skin keeping their flames locked beneath the surface may be more explosive to the relationships around them than any ancient magic.
Ibi Zoboi lives in New Jersey.
"(S)kin by Ibi Zoboi (ThriftBooks) $16
Excerpt: "(S)kin" by Ibi Zoboi
Zoboi (S)KIN Flight-Excerpt by CBSNewYork Scribd on Scribd
From "(S)kin by Ibi Zoboi. Copyright (c) 2025 by the author and reprinted by permission of Versify, a division of HarperCollins Publishers
