My Brother's Shadow
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Fans of David Almond’s Skellig and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls will embrace this deeply affecting middle grade novel in which a girl suffering from terrible grief befriends a mysterious wild boy.
When I saw him that first time I screamed—a small and silent scream, all inside, in my gut. Eleven-year-old Kaia, who has felt isolated since her older brother committed suicide more than a year before, befriends a wild boy who mysteriously appears at her London school. Though the boy is mute and can only communicate with a flash of his gray eyes, he might be the friend Kaia needs to bring her through her grief.
Here’s a fascinating story, which offers a fresh and completely original portrayal of loss and renewal.
"Readers who love stories of overcoming personal struggles and emotional strife will eat this up." —Booklist
"Fans of realistic fiction... will surely devour Avery’s latest." —School Library Journal
"[Kaia's] confessional narration and self-aware observations yield a believable and haunting portrait of grief." —Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Just over a year ago, 11-year-old Kaia White found her older brother, Moses, dead, and her life has been a "hazy, jagged dream" ever since. Kaia has stopped doing her homework, pushed her friends away, been taunted at school for her distant behavior, and been neglected by her Mum, who loses her job and drinks. Worry consumes Kaia until an unnamed, wild boy appears at school in "dirty, raggedy clothes"; he darts around and speaks only in animal sounds. Despite the fact that the boy never speaks to Kaia, he provides a needed distraction, shaking Kaia out of her "frozen stuck" mind-set and becoming her nonjudgmental confidante and amusing companion. Kaia's road to recovery is paved with a strong interest in trees, a resilient ex-friend, and Moses's remembered "Rules for life" ("Memories are like a cup of tea don't hold them too tight"). British author Avery (Too Much Trouble) immerses readers in Kaia's heavy thoughts and dreamlike, trapped state. Her confessional narration and self-aware observations yield a believable and haunting portrait of grief. Ages 9 12.
