Callender's portrayal of tween angst and awakening - including King's authentically devised evolution - anchors this deeply affecting, memorable novel. Both boys know they are facing homophobia, which will be even more oppressive for King because it's compounded by racial prejudice (King is African American Sandy is white). Meanwhile, King is keeping secrets: his friend Sandy has run away from an abusive father (the town's sheriff), and King is sheltering him Sandy is gay, and so, King gradually accepts, is he. No such thing as sadness, or anger, or anything else.There's just you.That star inside you'). He tries to keep Khalid close by remembering the dreaming Khalid's philosophical musings ('There's no such thing as happiness.

King believes his brother has 'left his body behind like a second skin' and become a dragonfly. Twelve-year-old King copes with the sudden death of his beloved older brother, Khalid, who used to talk in his sleep while dreaming about visiting another universe. 5/18), set in contemporary small-town Louisiana, Callender masterfully balances resonant themes of grief, love, family, friendship, racism, sexuality, and coming-of-age. In their second middle-grade novel ( Hurricane Child, rev. As King’s friendship with Sandy is reignited, he’s forced to confront questions about himself and the reality of his brother’s death.Intermediate, Middle School Scholastic 263 pp. “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.

King and the dragon flies