Sandy comes from a racist family, which further complicates his relationship with King. Khalid told King, “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay, too, do you?” (27). King’s brother Khalid overheard their conversation and told King he should not be friends with Sandy anymore. King was once close friends with Charles “Sandy” Sanders, who is white, until Sandy told him he was gay. King tells them he knows Sandy is gay and then regrets telling Sandy’s secret. His friend Darrell talks with Camille-the school’s gossiper-about rumors their classmate Sandy Sanders is gay. He looks for dragonflies when he walks by the bayou near his home, fantasizing that one of them could be his brother.Īt school, King is friends with Jasmine, and he wonders what the difference is between liking her as a friend and being her boyfriend. He imagines that Khalid has returned as a dragonfly because one of the insects landed on his brother’s casket during the funeral.
He is mourning the recent death of his older brother, Khalid.
Kingston “King” James is 12 years old, Black, and living in a small town in Louisiana. Thomas, USVI, and currently live in Philadelphia. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.The author, Kacen Callender, has written several books for children, teens, and adults, including the Lambda Literary award-winning Hurricane Child. 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. As King's friendship with Sandy is reignited, he's forced to confront questions about himself and the reality of his brother's death. "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. 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. It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders.
Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family. 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. Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him beyond the bayous of his backyard, to learn that there is no right way to be yourself.
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