Indies Introduce

Middle Grade

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  The Places We Sleep, Caroline Brooks DuBois
  Holiday House, 9780823444212, August 25, 2020 (Middle Grade)
  

  “A lovely book in verse that juxtaposes an important event in a girl’s life and an important event in the United States: September 11, 2001. Abbey’s family has just moved again and her body is changing, her mom is worried, and her dad might be headed for active duty, but Abbey has her new friend Camille and is gaining independence. I fell into this story and did not resurface until I was done. Brilliant.”

  Rebecca Crosswhite, Rediscovered Books (Boise, ID)
  
  

  “A beautiful and gentle novel in verse about a girl in the midst of the fallout of 9/11. DuBois focuses on the aftermath of that day and the repercussions that followed for months and years, including having a father who is deployed following the attack, a friend at school dealing with Islamophobia, and the loss of her aunt in the Twin Towers. Dubois covers everything you could want to cover about the attack, but in a way that makes it super relatable and easy to digest for young readers.”

  Lauren Nopenz Fairley, Curious Iguana (Frederick, MD)
  

  “The Places We Sleep is a beautiful and moving novel in verse about a girl navigating her way towards adolescence in the midst of a national tragedy. Abbey has just moved to Tennessee and is trying to find her way in a new school when the attacks of 9/11 happen. We follow Abbey as she deals with the fallout of 9/11 and the loss of the feeling of security the entire country felt. She grieves for an aunt, worries for her deployed father, and witnesses the xenophobia that reared its ugly head in the wake of that tragedy. If you are an adult, you’ll be transported back to that strange, unreal time. If you are younger, it will give you an idea of what it was like during those uncertain times. Either way, you will fall in love with and root for Abbey.”

  - Chelsea Bauer, Union Avenue Books (Knoxville, TN)

   

  “Abbey is an Army kid, used to moving from city to city and school to school as her dad’s orders change. On a seemingly ordinary fall day, Abbey gets her first period. With no friends to turn to for help and white pants in danger, Abbey almost misses the whispers in the hallways — buildings in New York and Washington have been attacked, are burning, are falling. The date is September 11, 2001. As Abbey’s mom drives to New York to search for her sister, who is missing in the rubble of the Twin Towers, Abbey is left to enter womanhood on her own. This coming-of-age story, laid out in spare, heartfelt verse, juxtaposes a very intense personal change with a cataclysmic national change, deftly navigating Abbey’s search for belonging amidst her fracturing family. The Places We Sleep is a beautiful, necessary story and was a joy to experience.”

  Emily Hall Schroen, Main Street Books (St. Charles, MO)