Home of the Brave
Applegate, Katherine
Hardcover
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BOOK SUMMARY
A deeply poetic and affecting novel about the contemporary immigrant experience.
BOOK SYNOPSIS
Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. Hes never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter cold and unkind.
In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now shes missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care; an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in Keks native language. As Kek awaits word of his mothers fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.
Bestselling author Katherine Applegate presents a beautifully wrought novel about an immigrants journey from hardship to hope.
AUTHOR BIO
Katherine Applegate is the author of several bestselling series, including ANIMORPHS, as well as THE BUFFALO STORM, a picture book t/k from Clarion Fall 07.
HOME OF THE BRAVE is Katherine Applegates first standalone novel. "In Keks story, I hope readers will see the neighbor child with a strange accent, the new kid in class from some faraway land, the child in odd clothes who doesnt belong," she says. "I hope they will see themselves."
Ms. Applegate lives with her family in North Carolina.
BOOK EXCERPTS
Snow When the flying boatreturns to earth at last,I open my eyesand gaze out the round window.What is all the white? I whisper.Where is all the world? The helping man greets meand there are many lines and questionsand pieces of paper. At last I follow him outside.We call that snow, he says.Isn't it beautiful?Do you like the cold? I want to sayNo, this cold is like claws on my skin! I look around me.Dead grass pokes throughthe unkind blanket of white.Everywhere the snowsparkles with lighthard as high sun.I close my eyes.I try out my new English words:How can you live in this place called America?It burns your eyes! The man gives me a fat shirtand soft things like hands.Coat, he says. Gloves.He smiles. You'll get used to it, Kek. I am a tall boy,like all my people.My arms stick out of the coatlike lonely trees.My fingers cannot makethe gloves work. I shake my head.I say, This America is hard work. His laughter makes little clouds.
BOOK REVIEWS
"American culture, the Minnesota climate, and personal identity are examined in this moving first-person novel written in free verse....Kek is both a representative of all immigrants and a character in his own right....Kek will be instantly recognizable to immigrants, but he is also well worth meeting by readers living in homogeneous communities."--School Library Journal, starred review "In her first stand-alone book, Applegate (the Animorphs series) effectively uses free verse to capture a Sudanese refugee's impressions of America and his slow adjustment....Prefaced by an African proverb, each section of the book marks a stage in the narrator's assimilation, eloquently conveying how his initial confusion fades as survival skills improve and friendships take root....Precise, highly accessible language evokes a wide range of emotions and simultaneously tells an initiation story. A memorable inside view of an outsider."--Publishers Weekly "This beautiful story of hope and resilience...is an almost lyrical story...Keks voice is particularly strong as he models the difficulties experienced by a new immigrant....The book highlights the importance of attitude to success, a life lesson worth repeating as well."--VOYA "The boys first-person narrative is immediately accessible. Like Hanna Jansens Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You, the focus on one child gets behind those news images of streaming refugees far away."--Booklist "...[Kek] relates the process of adjusting to his new life in poignant and lyrical free verse, a stylistic choice that helps set the tone of a character who of necessity thinks in images when he can't find the words to carry him from his old language to his new language....Kek's observations about the weirdness of American culture and customs will be familiar to immigrants and will cause non-immigrants to see everyday patterns and material possessions in a new light; the evocative spareness of the verse narrative will appeal to poetry lovers as well as reluctant readers and ESL students."--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB) "...beautifully written in free verse...a thought-provoking book about a topic sure to evoke the empathy of readers."--KLIATT "...a beautiful, meaningful, wonderful novel..."--Alison Morris, Wellesley Booksmith bookseller and "Shelftalker" blogger (PW online) "In an immediate, first-person voice, we get a detailed, emotional glimpse into Keks adjustment to America and its ways. With exact and accessible language as well as many evocative metaphors, as Kek tries to acclimate to his new life... Applegate gives young readers a compelling account of life as an outsider in America."--Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast It had me crying and then smiling through the tears at the same time, and I just love that. And I'm not usually a fan of free verse, but this was done so well, so beautiful, just right. I highly, highly recommend it. - Lori Kauffman, Brookline Booksmith (bookseller) "Those whose lives have been blessed with relationships with immigrant children will instantly recognize the authenticity of Keks voice and his story...In spare first-person verse, the parallel struggles of loss of family, loss of country, and loss of culture are poignantly and freshly rendered in Keks simple words...Applegate purposely renders Kek without a specific tribal identity, not to dishonor any group of people or to amalgamate the people of the African continent, but because she strives to portray a more universal character." - Toni Buzzeo, MA, MLIS (Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year Emerita; Maine Association of School Libraries Board Member), Author "...an exquisitely written story...Each word, line and piece is beautiful, and many could stand alone out of context of the novel as a whole....a wonderful book to share out loud." - Gretchen Baker-Smith, Baker Books, Dartmouth, MA
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MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 0312367651
ISBN(13-digit): 9780312367657
Dewey Decimal: [Fic]
Library of Congress: 2006032053
Book Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 249
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