Book details

Saints of the Household

Author: Ari Tison

Saints of the Household

Saints of the Household

$19.99

About This Book

Winner of the Pura Belpré Award and Walter Dean Myers Award for Young Adult Literature!

Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary...

Page Count
320
Genre
On Sale
03/28/2023
Age Range
14-18

Book Details

Winner of the Pura Belpré Award and Walter Dean Myers Award for Young Adult Literature!

Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary YA about an act of violence in a small-town--beautifully told by a debut Indigenous Costa Rican-American writer--that will take your breath away.

Max and Jay have always depended on one another for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned that the only way to protect themselves and their mother is to stick to a schedule and keep their heads down.

But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they intervene, breaking up a fight and beating their high school's star soccer player to a pulp. This act of violence threatens the brothers' dreams for the future and their beliefs about who they are. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold over the course of the novel, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions, their shifting relationship as brothers, and the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. They'll have to reach back to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.

Told in alternating points of view using vignettes and poems, debut author Ari Tison crafts an emotional, slow-burning drama about brotherhood, abuse, recovery, and doing the right thing.

Imprint Publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

ISBN

9780374389499

In The News

Pura Belpré Award Winner
Walter Award Winner for Young Adult Literature

A YALSA William C. Morris Award Finalist

Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner
Américas Book Award Winner for Young Adult Literature
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Book of the Year So Far
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults
A TLA Tayshas Reading List Selection
A Notable Books for a Global Society Selection
A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Title

"In this striking, assured debut exhibiting a measured pace and delicate writing, Tison (Bribri) probes the ties of adolescent brotherhood and ways the effects of violence can stall self-directed growth... Remarkably compelling." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Tison’s writing is staggering... Structurally and substantively, this book is an elegiac triumph that puts the human heart in the reader’s hands." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

"A heartrending, contemporary debut novel about the repercussions of trauma and the healing power of family and art. ... Violence can be inherited but so can love and forgiveness. This vulnerable and magnetic tale of brotherhood belongs on every shelf." —School Library Journal, starred review

"The story itself is a quiet, soulful exploration of how young men process the often-stark realities they live in. The character notes are subtle and nuanced." —Booklist

About the Creators

Saints of the Household

Saints of the Household

$19.99