First published 2020
Kingston James watches dragonflies by the bayou and knows one of them is his brother Khalid. Twelve-year-old King carries this secret while his family struggles with grief in their small Louisiana town. Khalid visits King in dreams but also left him with troubling final words about ending his friendship with Sandy Sanders. Khalid had discovered Sandy might be gay and warned King that people would make assumptions about him too. When Sandy disappears and the whole town searches for him, King finds his former best friend hiding in a tent in his own backyard. Sandy is running from his abusive father. King decides to help Sandy escape, and together they create their own refuge by the bayou among the dragonflies. As their friendship rebuilds, King faces difficult questions about his own identity and begins to process the truth about his brother's death.
Genres: fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, young-adult, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, friends-to-lovers
Setting: Louisiana
Period: Contemporary
272 pages · Kindle Edition · Scholastic Inc.
Content warnings: abuse, mental-illness