My Brother's Shadow - Hardcover

Avery, Tom

3.79

499 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385384874 ISBN 13: 9780385384872

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade, 2014

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Fans of David Almond’s Skellig and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls will embrace this deeply affecting middle grade novel in which a girl suffering from terrible grief befriends a mysterious wild boy.

When I saw him that first time I screamed—a small and silent scream, all inside, in my gut. Eleven-year-old Kaia, who has felt isolated since her older brother committed suicide more than a year before, befriends a wild boy who mysteriously appears at her London school. Though the boy is mute and can only communicate with a flash of his gray eyes, he might be the friend Kaia needs to bring her through her grief.

Here’s a fascinating story, which offers a fresh and completely original portrayal of loss and renewal.

"Readers who love stories of overcoming personal struggles and emotional strife will eat this up." —Booklist

"Fans of realistic fiction... will surely devour Avery’s latest." —School Library Journal

"[Kaia's] confessional narration and self-aware observations yield a believable and haunting portrait of grief." —Publishers Weekly

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About the Author:

Tom Avery is the author of the middle-grade novel Too Much Trouble, winner of the Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award. He was born and raised in London in a very large, very loud family, descendants of the notorious pirate Henry Avery. Tom has worked as a teacher in inner-city schools in London and Birmingham, and he lives in North London with his wife and two sons.

Review:

"This poignant tale of loss and the attempts at closure is poetically recorded, each chapter revealing a bit of the strife that Kaia battles as she struggles to exist in school, to hold on to herself, and to find her way back to the girl she was before her horrendous tragedy.... As the layers of ice she has encased herself in begin to crack, the remarkable girl slowly begins to blossom and she is able to find hope. Avery creates an impressive account of tragedy, and his gentle, melancholic prose establishes the perfect tone for his tale of despair and renewal. Fans of realistic fiction, especially dealing with emotionally jarring, disturbing events, will surely devour Avery’s latest." —School Library Journal

"Uncomplicated yet potent storytelling renders this an acutely heart-wrenching tale of despondency and renewal in a fresh manner. Readers who love stories of overcoming personal struggles and emotional strife will eat this up." —Booklist

"Avery’s novel has substance and subtlety, as well as a winsome protagonist who easily commands our sympathy." —The Horn Book

"Avery immerses readers in Kaia’s heavy thoughts and dreamlike, trapped state. Her confessional narration and self-aware observations yield a believable and haunting portrait of grief." —Publishers Weekly

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