Callender paints dream sequences in evocative prose notable as well is their exploration of grief's impact on a family. Finding Sandy hiding in his backyard, King struggles with the memory of Khalid's warning to stay away from the boy ('You don't want anyone to think you're gay, too, do you?') and their Louisiana town's homophobia as he decides to help Sandy and explores his own identity. When Charles 'Sandy' Sanders the son of the racist sheriff and King's former friend disappears, and King realizes he was the last to see Sandy, he ponders his obligation to tell anyone King knows Sandy is a victim of domestic abuse and suspects Sandy's father is the perpetrator. Twelve-year-old Kingston 'King' Reginald James lost his beloved older brother, Khalid, 16, three months before this book's start, though King believes Khalid has become a dragonfly and visits nightly in his dreams. The Thing About Jellyfish meets The Stars Beneath Our Feet in this story about loss, grief, and finding the courage to discover one's identity, from the author of Hurricane Child.Ĭallender (Hurricane Child) returns to middle grade in this powerful tale of grief, intersectional identity, and love. As King's friendship with Sandy is reignited, he's forced to confront questions about himself and the reality of his brother's death.

'You don't want anyone to think you're gay too, do you?'īut when Sandy goes missing, sparking a town-wide search, and King finds his former best friend hiding in a tent in his backyard, he agrees to help Sandy escape from his abusive father, and the two begin an adventure as they build their own private paradise down by the bayou and among the dragonflies. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy-that he thinks he might be gay.

It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders.

Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him beyond the bayous of his backyard, to learn that there is no right way to be yourself. Winner of the 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry! Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature!

King and the dragon flies