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“I’ll tell you a secret,” he says. “There’s no such thing as happiness. No such thing as sadness, or anger, or anything else. […] There’s just you. That star inside you. Nothing can change that.”
What you should get excited about King and the Dragonflies:
- A middle grade novel about coming to terms with your sexuality in a hostile environment.
- Atmospheric prose that makes you feel like you’re in Louisiana sweating right alongside Kingston in the summer heat.
- It explores the social conditioning children experience when faced with someone refusing to stick to the status quo.
- A story of acceptance and loyalty that will make you feel like hugging it out with your friends after a stupid argument.
Review:
“We should be who we are and like who we like, no matter who’s going to laugh.”
King and the Dragonflies is a bittersweet story. For such a short book, Callender definitely knows how to juggle a lot of important topics: friendship, homophobia, abuse, internalised racism, loyalty, and grief.
Callender depicts grief in a profound way, highlighting the seemingly insurmountable silence that follows a death—chronicling the aftermath of a devastating loss, when the grieving family is left to their own devices after days of being coddled by the neighbourhood with kind words and casseroles. Kingston and his parents don’t know how to communicate anymore without Khalid present. It is a raw and emotional journey seeing them try to deny their grief and eventually succumbing to it and to eventually rise from the ashes of their shambled family life.
A quiet story in many ways, it still managed to pack quite the punch. Beyond the internalised homophobia many kids experience, Callender also sheds light on intersectionality. There is a particular moment between Kingston and his dad that many parents could benefit from reading. Kingston’s father has the most to overcome, both stereotypes and old beliefs. Raised to think that a man can either be gay or black but never both because that would be a fate too cruel in a world that hates on both, he struggles with the knowledge that his son might just have to face said cruelty all too soon. Callender tackles intersectionality and shows the radical prejudices that black gay men have to contend with on a daily basis in a very honest, authentic manner. Despite having to upend his entire belief system, Kingston’s dad still loves his son and tells him so repeatedly. Yes, he needs some time to make this new version of King work in his mind, but he loves his son unconditionally. It’s such a heartfelt moment full of acceptance and the power a parent’s love holds over their kid’s identity, I wish every child could read it.
Further, this story explores friendship and how far you would go to protect the ones you love even if you might get in trouble for it. Kingston grapples with knowing who to give his loyalty to, tugged in multiple directions by his promises, his duties and his beliefs in what is right and wrong. Beneath it all, Kingston is just a confused boy who is faced with a world of prejudice and unfounded hate, a boy who just wants to be himself and figure out his sexuality on his own terms instead of being told what he needs to be to fit in – with his friends, with his town, with the world at large. King and the Dragonflies explores the struggles of staying true to yourself when faced with the risk of abandonment and isolation. Ultimately hopeful, it encourages readers to be themselves, no matter what others might think.
A novel that celebrates friendship and loyalty in the face of adversity, King and the Dragonflies will hopefully gain a permanent place on your bookshelf and in your heart.
King and the Dragonflies is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Will you be picking up King and the Dragonflies? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Twelve-year old Kingston James has always looked up to his brother Khalid. Living in rural Louisiana as a black kid comes with its own struggles but with his brother by his side, Kingston feels invincible. And thankfully, King has great friends like Sandy Sanders – that is, until Sandy tells him that he is gay. For King, nothing need change because of Sandy’s confession. Sandy is who he’s always been. Funny, inquisitive and kind. Everything’s the same. Right?
But what do you do when the person who you love most in the world, the one you want to grow up to be tells you to drop your best friend lest you’re thought of as gay, too? You wouldn’t want that, right? And what if that person that just caused you to upend your world suddenly dies?
Kingston is inconsolable when Khalid is gone but he’s trying to keep his promise, to stay silent. Because surely, his brother had the right motivation for asking Kingston to tell Sandy they can’t be friends anymore…didn’t he? He was only trying to protect him…But when Sandy suddenly goes missing, Kingston has a choice to make – will he stay true to his promise to his brother or help his former best friend face the demons he’s running from?
