The Hot List

Love Like Sky

Accidental Friends

Small Town Pride

Moonpenny Island

Talking to the Moon

Harry Sue

South Carolina

Set in contemporary Malawi, a poignant account of an orphaned boy's transition from city life to village life.

Sam's widowed mother has died from "the Disease," and Sam is claimed by his aunt Mercy, who lives in the small African village where Sam's mother was born and raised. The gap between Sam's life in the city, where he had his own room, attended private school, and used a computer, and his new life in the dirt-floored one-room hut, which he is to share with his aunt and cousins, is vast beyond imagining. Grief, loneliness, and the absence of everything familiar make for a rocky transition to a traditional culture where possessions count for little and everyone is expected to do his or her share.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

The Hot List

Hillary Homzie, 2011

Love Like Sky

Leslie C. Youngblood, 2018

Accidental Friends

Helena Pielichaty, 2008

Small Town Pride

Phil Stamper, 2022

Moonpenny Island

Gilbert Ford, Tricia Springstubb, 2015

Talking to the Moon

Archimede Fusillo, 2020

Harry Sue

Sue Stauffacher, 2005

South Carolina

Victoria L. Berri, Vikki L. Berri, 2003