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King and the Dragonflies

by Kacen Callender

King is a 12-year-old Black boy living in the bayou of Louisiana with his mom, dad, and the memories of his dead older brother, Khalid. Because he idolized Khalid, King always followed the advice his brother gave him, including dropping his friendship with Sandy, a white boy in King’s class rumored to be gay and who King later outed. But now Khalid is gone, and Sandy has run away from his abusive, racist father. King helps him hide and brings him food; aware his feelings for Sandy are more than friendship. The driving force of this quiet, contemplative novel are King’s complicated feelings about Khalid, who he believes, or imagines, will come back as a dragonfly. He also wants to believe his brother was perfect, but Khalid’s advice about King’s friendship with Sandy, even if it came from the desire to protect King, was hurtful, and wrong. In acknowledging the truth of this, and in his struggle to be seen and heard by his parents, King shines as his own singular self: young and gay, compassionate and sensitive, moving toward Black manhood on his own terms. A novel graced by exquisite writing beautifully captures the landscape of place and as well as deep feelings. ©2021 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range: Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format: Novel
Subjects: African Americans Boys and Men Brothers Child Abuse Families Friendship Gays Grief and Loss Homophobia LGBTQ+ Persons
Diversity subject: Black/African LGBTQ Character/Topic

Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publish Year: 2020
Pages: 259
ISBN: 9781338129335
CCBC Location: Fiction, Callender

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