Home of the Brave

Home of the Brave
ISBN: 9780312535636
Publication Date: 23 December 2008

"A man I helped to settle here
taught me a saying from Africa.
I'll bet you would like it:
A cow is God with a wet nose."

Kek comes from Africa. In America, he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He's never walked on ice, and he fallls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter--cold and unkind.

In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she's missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care, an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in his native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother's fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.

Bestselling author Katherine Applegate presents a beautifully wrought novel about an immigrant's journey from hardship to hope.

About the Author

Katherine Applegate is the author of several bestselling series, including Animorphs, as well as the picture book, The Buffalo Storm.

Home of the Brave is Katherine Applegate's first standalone novel. "In Kek's story, I hope readers will see the neighbor child with a strange accent, the new kid in class from some faraway land, the child in odd clothes who doesn't belong," she says. "I hope they will see themselves."

Ms. Applegate lives with her family in North Carolina.