Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun

This middle-grade fantasy novel, the first in a series, follows Onyeka, a British-Nigerian girl living in London who struggles with her enormous, unruly Afro hair and constant teasing. Her overprotective mother, Tópé, runs a hair salon and insists Onyeka is different from everyone else, a message Onyeka resents but does not understand. Onyeka's only connection to her absent father is a white cowrie shell necklace and a calming technique he developed: counting through the Fibonacci sequence to manage overwhelming emotions. Her best friend, Cheyenne, a fellow Nigerian girl with Turner's syndrome, is the one person who accepts her completely.

When Cheyenne nearly drowns during a birthday pool outing, Onyeka dives after her but cannot swim well enough to save them both. In a moment of panic, Onyeka's hair transforms, forming a protective bubble that propels them to the surface. Back home, when Onyeka confronts Tópé about her secrecy, her hair explodes outward in a crackling blue-black cloud. Tópé reveals the truth: Onyeka is Solari, a being with superpowers inherited from her father, Benjamin, a geneticist who worked on a secret project for Nigeria's ruling Councils of Unity before he vanished. Tópé received an anonymous warning to flee Nigeria. She explains that Solari powers are physically dangerous and declares they must return to Nigeria to find Benjamin.

After days of illness from her powers' activation, Onyeka says goodbye to Cheyenne, who accepts the revelation and encourages her to go. Tópé rushes Onyeka to an airfield, where Niyi Olúbódé, a Solari student who can create ice from his hands, arrives aboard a high-tech jet called the Gyrfalcon. Niyi was sent by Dr. Dòyìnbó, head teacher of the Academy of the Sun (AOS). During the flight, Niyi explains that Ike, the Igbo word for 'power,' fuels Solari abilities, and that AOS graduates enter the Protector Program as covert operatives defending Nigeria.

At AOS, Tópé departs to pursue a lead on Benjamin's whereabouts. Onyeka's distress causes her hair to shatter Dr. Dòyìnbó's glass desk, but he persuades her to stay and train. She is roomed with Adanna Okeke, the top-ranked student who possesses two rare abilities: technopathy and synesthetic empathy, enabling her to control technology and sense emotions.

Onyeka learns that Solari were created accidentally when trarium, a metal Dr. Dòyìnbó discovered that revolutionized Nigeria's solar energy, contaminated groundwater during mining and caused genetic mutations in exposed pregnant women. Dr. Dòyìnbó founded AOS to protect the resulting children, grouping them into four houses by power type, including Emitters like Niyi and Psionics like Onyeka. In HOME (Holographic Offensive Multisensory Environment), a training facility projecting virtual environments, Adanna guides Onyeka to confront her deepest fear. Onyeka discovers her anchor, memories of Cheyenne's loyalty, and activates her Ike deliberately for the first time, though the effort makes her sick.

Onyeka befriends Hassan Adamu, a boy whose energy-field Ike allows him to turn invisible, and grows closer to Adanna. Hassan reveals Adanna was once close with Eni (Eniayo), a Transformer, but Eni grew jealous of Adanna's second Ike and spread a rumor that Adanna spies for the Rogues, former Solari who attack the academy. Onyeka discovers a photo of Benjamin with a figure Adanna's technopathy identifies as Dr. Naomi Uduike, Benjamin's twin sister, who also disappeared. Dr. Dòyìnbó confirms Naomi is the lead Tópé has been pursuing. Adanna styles Onyeka's hair in Bantu knots, teaching her to embrace it, and Onyeka publicly defends Adanna against Eni's bullying, deepening their bond.

Dr. Dòyìnbó requires Onyeka to participate in Ìdánwò, the annual house tournament. In the final trial, Onyeka uses her hair as a slingshot to launch past Eni, securing bonus points that push Adanna to first place. An emergency alarm follows. Onyeka discovers Niyi, Adanna, and Hassan battling a fire-wielding Rogue named Zahrah and learns they form Nchebe ('shield' in Igbo), a secret team defending the academy. Dr. Dòyìnbó then tells Onyeka that Tópé has gone missing.

During a mission in Lagos, Onyeka walks into a Rogue trap. Zahrah demands Onyeka lead them to the serum. During the escape, Niyi is burned, and Onyeka catches him with her hair when he falls from the Gyrfalcon's ladder, then collapses as her condition worsens. After two days unconscious, Onyeka meets Dr. Naomi Uduike, Benjamin's twin, who wrote the warning note that sent Tópé and Onyeka fleeing Nigeria. Dr. Naomi explains that Ike usually manifests in early childhood; Onyeka's late onset means each use damages her body at a cellular level. She reveals the cowrie shell necklace is a DNA-activated key to Benjamin's hidden laboratory; she wears a matching one.

They unlock a secret lab beneath a Lagos warehouse. A holographic recording reveals that Ike use causes a degenerative disease killing Protectors in their early twenties. Benjamin created a serum that cures the disease but eliminates the user's Ike. The corrupted message warns against trusting someone unnamed who plans to weaponize Solari, urges them to find the Rogue leader Gbénga, and reveals Benjamin hid the serum in Ogbunike Caves, where he and Naomi played as children. Soldiers storm the lab, but Dr. Naomi uses her mind-bending Ike to force them to sleep, an effort so extreme she may never use her powers again.

Dr. Naomi believes she can modify the serum to cure the disease without removing Ike but needs the sample first. Onyeka's condition deteriorates until a video call with Cheyenne stabilizes her. In the caves, Onyeka follows cowrie shell etchings her father carved and retrieves the serum from a marble statue.

As they exit, soldiers ambush them, and Dr. Dòyìnbó descends the cave steps, revealing himself as the villain. He is the first Solari, accidentally mutated by trarium, with the power to see the future. He allowed the contamination to create Solari, founded AOS to train them as his army, and has manipulated Nigeria for decades. He kidnapped Benjamin for discovering the truth and captured Tópé for getting too close. The Rogues left AOS after learning the truth, and Dr. Dòyìnbó discredited them to maintain control.

Dr. Dòyìnbó loads the serum into a jet injector and orders Niyi to inject Onyeka. Niyi refuses and throws himself between Onyeka and a charging soldier. The serum injects into his neck, and his ice powers fail. Onyeka's rage unleashes her Ike, her hair battering through soldiers. She nearly crushes Dr. Dòyìnbó but stops when Adanna calls her Yeka, Cheyenne's nickname for her, pulling Onyeka back. Onyeka realizes Adanna, Hassan, and Niyi have all become her anchors alongside Cheyenne. She releases Dr. Dòyìnbó, but he escapes during the battle. The group flees to the Gyrfalcon.

Niyi wakes aboard the jet, his Ike gone but his body recovering. Dr. Naomi plans to use his DNA, which now contains the serum, to synthesize a modified version. They agree to return to AOS to warn the Solari, rescue Onyeka's parents, and stop Dr. Dòyìnbó. Adanna suggests allying with Gbénga and the Rogues. Onyeka reflects that she came to Nigeria seeking her father and a sense of belonging and found a larger family and the understanding that her hair and Ike are sources of strength, not flaws to fix. The group heads to Dr. Naomi's hidden farmhouse to prepare, knowing Dr. Dòyìnbó will come for them.