Reading is a Conduit to Wholeness. -- Jason Reynolds
Two years ago in January, I was feeling pretty despondent. It was the middle of winter, which is always kind of hard, and the things that were happening in the world were making it hard for me to maintain any sort of faith in goodness or humanity. I was floundering, I was angry, and I was desperately sad. Then, on a road trip, I read-- well, listened to, actually-- a book featuring three kids, a dog, a couple of wise adults and several malevolent ones, and a dragon that had (and I quote) "diabolical flatulence." I had picked up Adam Gidwitz's The Inquisitor's Tale with an Audible credit after, honestly, seeing it pop up on Amazon fifty billion times and thinking huh, what a weird subject for a kid's book. Friends, it is definitely unique among middle grade novels, and it is bloody brilliant. My family hummed down the interstate in the dark and every one of us was spellbound. Listening to that book was like having my heart pulled out of my chest, wrung out, bathed in a cool running stream, and reinstalled.
If you need a laugh; if you need your heart broken, if you need your faith in humanity shored up juuuuuust a bit-- if you just like cleverly told stories with depth and heart...The Inquisitor's Tale is a great place to start.
And for fun, here's the first book trailer (of two, so far-- and don't worry, you'll get to see the other one too!) I ever made.
Edit: Oh right. Also. If you'd like to enter to get a copy of this book, leave a comment. If you want, you can tell me about a time a book restored your faith in humanity. Or made you laugh. Or that you listened to on a road trip. Whatever. I'll draw a random commenter next Friday to receive a paperback copy of The Inquisitor's Tale.
Edited to add: Hey hey hey! It's Friday. I did the drawing, and Meredith, you win! Send me an email with your address to booksforfolks@gmail.com with your address, and I'll get it in the mail for you. <3 Enjoy!!
Comments
I am currently reading Smilla’s Sense of Snow, as Faith is going to Denmark in July and I am super jealous and so living vacaripusly through books!
I’m also reading Treasure Island aloud to Faith and Thomas during our school day.
And reading To Kill A Mockingbird aloud to Faith and her friend Micah, which we are loving!
And to Logan I am reading a lot of Good Night Moon, as well as as much Beatrix Potter as he will sit still for!
Seeing this all types outback makes me realize I’m not reading anything with Bereket right now... Hmmm... I need to fix that!
Looking forward to checking this one out. We are definitely into dragons right now!