King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
I just realized that February is *almost* outta here….and this is only my 9th book review this year.
*GASP!*
Are you wondering WTF is up with that?
Well my fellow book lovers….I gotta tell yall that I really have no idea LOL
My reading pace has slowed yet again and while I usually know the exact reasoning as to WHY that happens, this time I’m kinda just like IDK 🤷♀️
We have had a WHOLE lot happening in my family with my husband’s military retirement almost here (like literally less than two weeks😱) and planning for a move in a few months.
Plus, my anxiety has come to a few full on peaks as of late and I haven’t been sleeping great lately… and we’re still living in this damn pandemic and I’m trying to manage parenting and wife-ing and bill paying and domestic-ing while trying to remain half way sane and have at least an ounce of calm (which I’ll be honest doesn’t happen much 😬).
SOOOOOOOO….
I guess I *do* know why I haven’t been reading as much lately as I read thru what I just typed…..
But lemme stop there before this turns into an impromptu therapeutic journaling or something.
(Which kinda happens on here all the time anyways…thanks for pushing thru all that to get to the legit thoughts on book content😆 )
Obviously yall can see that a bunch of my “things” have been falling to the wayside….getting thru books is one of them.
I am in the process of reading three very long and very intense books right now (and also reading thru another one as a group book study)…which are all just taking me six thousand forevers to wade thru.
My brain needed a shorter fiction break in the midst of these long reads…a sprinkle of glitter instead of a giant bucket.
Scribd recommended this book to me so I jumped right on in.
(note: while reading up info on this author, I did see that the pronouns Kacen Callender identifies with is “they/their” so that is what I am using)
Here is the official summary:
“Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. 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. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family.
It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. 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. “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay too, do you?”
But 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. As King’s friendship with Sandy is reignited, he’s forced to confront questions about himself and the reality of his brother’s death.
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.”
The way the author writes this story is uniquely beautiful… I have seen it described by reviewers as “dream-like” and “poetic”.
I whole heartedly agree with those two adjectives.
The author finds a way to transport you with their words into each setting within the pages: the bayou where King escapes to to view dragonflies, the magical world Khalid narrates to King while dreaming, the tent hide out in King’s backyard…you can hear the insects wings fluttering, see the luminous clouds, feel the heavy humidity.
This story is one where characters navigate heavy things such as loss, grief, abuse, racism, homophobia, peer pressure, and identity questioning.
This is a story of coming of age, about family and friendships and how to find your way thru the really difficult early teen years amidst some even more difficult life events.
This is a story of questioning all things associated with living and dying and what we believe to be true about who we truly are and who our loved ones truly are.
This is a story of heartbreak and of longing…. but this is also a story of hope and of healing.
I really admire the way Kacen Callender is able to write so vividly and so tenderly about such complex issues. They find a way to place you inside King’s head and heart in a way that will stick with you long after you put the book down.
This was truly a wonderful read….it breaks open your heart in a way that only excellent literature can do.
This is technically a “Middle Grade” book —I’ll for sure be recommending to my teen–but I definitely think adults will find enjoyment as well—although yall know I am biased with anything *close* to the YA genre!
(One last thing is just the one teensy piece I did NOT like: The narrator of the audibook was not my fave. He wasn’t terrible to the point where it took away from my enjoyment of the story BUT if I read it again, I’d definitely pick up the physical copy instead. He just wasn’t great🤷♀️)