King and the Dragonflies*

12-year-old Kingston James doesn’t want to believe that his brother is actually dead. Instead, he imagines Khalid has transformed into a dragonfly. With grief consuming King’s family, he wishes he had his best friend Sandy to talk to, but they haven’t spoken in weeks – not since Khalid told King to keep his distance so people didn’t think he was gay, too. Then Sandy goes missing and King finds him hiding out in his backyard. King decides to help his former best friend escape his abusive father, but escaping isn’t that easy and King is soon confronted by many difficult choices. Can he find his way? Your young readers will be blown away by King’s journey to acceptance as he confronts the hard truths about himself and his place in the world. Ages 10 and up. 272pp.