Thirteen year old Kingston, or King, is grieving over the recent death of his sixteen year old brother Khalid. Seeing a dragonfly at his brother's funeral, he now believes his brother is embodied as a dragonfly. Every day he walks to the river to visit the dragonflies and his brother. His entire family has difficulty dealing with the grief, his father surprising him with an "I love you" as he drops King off for school. King dreams of his brother and recalls his brother's philosophical musings which are poetic, told with beauty and grace.
King's best friend, Sandy, confided in him that he likes boys, and he is gay. When King told his brother about Sandy he warned King that he cannot be friends with him, or others will think he is gay too. King is struggling with his own sexual identity and racism (King is Black, Sandy is white). King tells Sandy he can no longer be his friend and then reveals Sandy's secret to other friends. Sandy is now ostracized and ignored, Sandy's life is further complicated with a racist and homophobic father who is also the town's sheriff. Sandy follows King to the river, confronts King about their friendship and anger. King reveals his guilt and grief for his brother. The two part, but the next day Sandy is missing. King discovers Sandy in his tent, where he often goes when he needs to be alone. King and Sandy confide in each other, Sandy revealing abuse by his father and King his sexuality.
What follows is a deftly told story of King and his conflict with sexuality, race, and family. Callender beautifully weaves poetic prose to describe believable, real, characters, and the gradual growth of King learning to accept the loss of his brother, accept his own sexuality, and confront family to earn their acceptance.
The confrontation with his father is particularly moving. In an exchange with his father, King has difficulty understanding why his father is needing some time to accept his sexuality. His father explains that he loves him, but "...it's hard. I've got all these ideas of what it means to be gay. Everything I was told by my father, and my father was told before me, and I don't know if it's wrong or right, but I know I love you." King has difficulty with this, asking "But why should it be so hard? Why do have to struggle with me being gay, but you don't struggle with me being Black?" His father tells him it is not the same thing. but King responds "It's the same sort of hate. The kinds of things people do or say because I'm Black feels like the kinds of things people do or say because I'm gay."
Some serious issues of grief, sexuality, and racism are handled perfectly for a middle school audience...but don't kid yourself, this is for everyone. A powerful ending that reassures that life will go on. Have some tissue handy.
Mark's Book Picks Score: 5
Reading Level: 4.9 • Interest Level: 4-7 • AR Points: 7 • Lexile Level: 830L• Publisher: Scholastic • Pages: 259 • Copyright: 2020 • ISBN: 978-1-338-12933-5 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding
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