by Katherine Applegate

Feiwel and Friends / Holtzbrinck Publishers
Middle-Grade Fiction/Ages 10-14/Grades 5 and up
Hardcover, $16.95
ISBN-13 978-0-312-36765-7; ISBN-10 0 312-36765-1
On sale now!

MBA Bookseller Information
Order books from your Holtzbrinck rep or your preferred wholesaler. Earn up to $75 in rebates for promoting this book! See the marketing information and rebate form below. HOME OF THE BRAVE will be advertised in the MBA Catalog.

This is a wonderful book to suggest to your local schools. It fits perfectly into social studies and literature curriculums and will heighten students’ global awareness.

Send your us comments and reviews about HOME OF THE BRAVE. We’re eager to share your endorsements with your fellow MBA booksellers and with your customers!

Downloads

• Midwest Connections Marketing Info & Rebate Form (PDF)
• Reading Group Guide (PDF)
• Print Ad (PDF)
• Book Photo (JPG)
• Author Photo (JPG)
• Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials

About the Book

“The immigrant experience is not one that we all have to live through, but everyone should read about it. There are certainly lots of different points of view and cultures we need to explore to understand our world today. HOME OF THE BRAVE is told from the viewpoint of a young Sudanese boy who has come to this country to live in Minnesota with his aunt and cousin, who also are refugees. He is for the most part positive about his new situation, but his thoughts about the rest of his family and the destructive violence in his homeland are heart-wrenching. Told in spare blank verse that’s both compelling and accessible, HOME OF THE BRAVE will appeal to a wide range of readers, children and adults.”
- Ellen Scott, The Bookworm, Omaha, NE

“I became interested in the future of the characters in this book immediately. It’s the story of Kek, an African immigrant to the cold climate of Minnesota. We learn of his problems in and out of school, how he copes with his new life, his old fears, and his hopes for a better future where his mother will be with him again here in America. It’s fascinating how he finds ways to translate his past life in Africa to his new one in Minnesota. It’s a quick read, but the story will stay with you a long time.”
- Carl Wichman, NDSU Bookstore, Fargo, ND

America bewildered and uneasy about his new life. He sees snow for the first time and feels its sting. He’s never walked on ice, and he falls easily. And he wonders about the people. Will they be like the winter – cold and unkind? As this young Sudanese boy awaits word of his mother’s fate, the only other remaining survivor in his family, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country. Kek’s story is both heartwarming and inspiring, and especially relevant in today’s world.

You may know Katherine Applegate as K.A. Applegate, author of the bestselling series Animorphs, which has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Here, Katherine is making a debut of sorts, with her first stand-alone literary novel – a beautifully wrought novel about a young immigrant’s journey from hardship to hope.

As Katherine Applegate explains, “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 doesn’t belong. I hope they see themselves.” The spare blank verse she has chosen to convey Kek’s story expresses so compellingly his struggle to express his thoughts and feelings in a strange new language, English.

We urge you to read this extraordinary novel. We know you’ll love it as much as we did and that it will soon become one of your hand-sell favorites and top book club recommendations.