by Daniel Nayeri
Levine Querido
8/25/2020, hardcover
SKU: 9781646140008
A sprawling, evocative, and groundbreaking autobiographical novel told in the unforgettable and hilarious voice of a young Iranian refugee. It is a powerfully layered novel that poses the questions: Who owns the truth? Who speaks it? Who believes it?
"A patchwork story is the shame of the refugee," Nayeri writes early in the novel. In an Oklahoman middle school, Khosrou (whom everyone calls Daniel) stands in front of a skeptical audience of classmates, telling the tales of his family's history, stretching back years, decades, and centuries. At the core is Daniel's story of how they became refugees--starting with his mother's vocal embrace of Christianity in a country that made such a thing a capital offense, and continuing through their midnight flight from the secret police, bribing their way onto a plane-to-anywhere. Anywhere becomes the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy, and then finally asylum in the U.S. Implementing a distinct literary style and challenging western narrative structures, Nayeri deftly weaves through stories of the long and beautiful history of his family in Iran, adding a richness of ancient tales and Persian folklore.
Like Scheherazade of One Thousand and One Nights in a hostile classroom, Daniel spins a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth. Everything Sad is Untrue: (A True Story) is a tale of heartbreak and resilience and urges readers to speak their truth and be heard.
Target age: 10 to 13
Reviews:
"A modern epic."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"A rare treasure of a book."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"It hooks you right from the opening line."--NPR
"Raises the literary bar in children's lit."--Booklist, starred review
About the Author:
Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent a couple of years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age eight with his family. He is the publisher of Odd Dot, an imprint of Macmillan, making him one of the youngest publishers in the industry. He has served on the CBC diversity committee and the CBC panel committee. He lives in New York City. His autobiographical novel, Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story) was the winner of the Michael L. Printz Award.