History Literature / RaceToTheSun

* ShoutOut: When Nizhoni tells Mac they need to find Spider Woman, he thinks of Franchise/SpiderMan--and later it turns out she ''is'' a fan.

* BlindingBangs: Mac quite often hides his face behind his long hair, usually to hide the fact that he got another black eye.

* MixedAncestry: Davery and [[TheGhost his unseen brother]] are Navajo on their father's side and African-American on their mother's side.

* UsefulNotes/{{Albuquerque}}: The hometown of Nizhoni, Mac, and Davery.

* UsefulNotes/{{Alberquerque}}: The hometown of Nizhoni, Mac, and Davery.

* AdultsAreUseless: Zig-zagged. Nizhoni's dad is pretty clueless and cares mostly about his job, and when he is kidnapped, Nizhoni ''knows'' that as a Native girl she cannot count on the police. On the other hand, other adults, like the cart lady or Spider Woman, turn out to be of great help. Then again, they are not ordinary people.

* ParentalObliviousness: Nizhoni feels that her dad is never there for her and is positively surprised that he comes to pick her up from school after she suffers sport injury. But then, in the car, he is talking on his phone and texting all the time, anyway.

* ElementalPowers: Mac has power over water and basically anything liquid.

Nizhoni Begay is just your average seven grader. True, she is Navajo, her mother left the family when Nizhoni and her younger brother Mac were little, her father is overworked and hardly notices her, and she desperately wants to be famous at school--but then, many kids are. Oh, and she also sees monsters pretending to be normal people. Just like that man at the basketball match, who turns out to be her father's potential employer, oil magnate Mr Charles.

* AdultsAreUseless: Zig-zagged. Nizhoni's dad is pretty clueless and cares mostly about his job, and when he is kidnapped, Nizhoni ''knows'' that as a Native girl she cannot count on the police. On the other hand, other adults, like the cart lady or Spider Woman, turn out to be of great help. Then again, they are not oridinary people.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Mr Charles is the CEO of a huge gas and oil corporation, seems to be friends with the President and his company destroys the environment (not to mention building a pipeline on Native land) and is the target of many protest actions. And he's also a man-eating monster who kidnaps gifted children to work for him.

* MentorMascot: Mr Yazzie, a talking horned toad, who helps Nizhoni and Mac learn about their destinies and get to the House of the Sun. Overlaps with OldMaster, as he keeps complaining about his old age and everyone in the know calls him "little grandpa".

* {{Shapeshifting}}: Mr Charles (and probably other monsters) can change form at will, so at one point he appears as Adrien Cuttlebush from school.

* TheTrickster: According to Johonaa'ei, Nilch'i, who has probably helped Nizhoni under the guise of the cart lady, is one. He is certainly a MasterOfDisguise.
* VillainInAWhiteSuit: While Mr Charles wears a black suit, his two bodyguards, Mr Rock and Ms Bird both wear similar white suits. And they are implied to be monsters, too.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Mr Charles has blonde hair so pale that it almost looks silver.

** Mr Charles tries to kill Nizhoni, although he claims that hurting youngsters pains him.

* TheBully: Adrien Cuttlebush, who for some reason has decided to turn Mac's life into hell. Which includes beating Mac up and destroying his art supplies.