Kiki and Jacques
A Refugee Story
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Can Kiki and Jacques be friends—or are they just too different?
Life could be better for twelve-year-old Jacques. His mother just died, his father is jobless, and his grandmother’s bridal store is on the verge of closing. At least he can look forward to the soccer season—after all, he’s a shoo-in for captain. But the arrival of Somali refugees shakes up nearly everything in his French-American Maine town, even soccer.
Jacques isn’t the only star anymore—Mohamed is just as good as him, maybe better. School, church, sports . . . everything suddenly seems different. So Jacques is surprised to find himself becoming friends with Kiki, a smart, kind, and strong-minded Somali Muslim girl with a mysterious scar.
Can kids as seemingly different as Jacques and Kiki be friends? Kiki and Jacques offers a realistic and heartwarming portrait of a town learning to embrace its changing face.
A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jacques, a middle-school student in an economically struggling Maine community, grapples with a boatload of challenges in Ross's debut novel. When a few Somali families relocate to Jacques's neighborhood, their presence is noticed, but not appreciated by everyone. Although Jacques was a shoe-in for soccer captain, he suddenly faces tight competition from an incredibly talented Somali boy. More stressful for Jacques, however, are a dangerous older kid threatening him and his family, and a classmate, Lucy, who gives him the silent treatment after he initiates a friendship with a Somali girl, Kiki. To top it off, Jacques's widowed father has lost his job and is drinking, and his Grandm re's bridal store, the family's main source of income, faces closure. With a good heart and a powerful sense of right and wrong (Jacques tells his grandmother, "I have some babysitting money. You can have it"), Jacques is a model for readers facing their own ethical dilemmas. His friendships and social interactions ring true, but the enormity of problems he faces and the book's picture-perfect resolutions strain credulity. Ages 8 12.