Saints of the Household

(Hardback)

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Description

Max and Jay depend on each other. Growing up in Minnesota with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned to protect themselves and their mom by keeping their heads down. But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they break up a fight, harming their school's star soccer player in the process. This act of violence threatens the brothers' dreams for the future. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions. 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 that will take your breath away.

Reviews

"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

Author Bio

Ari Tison is a Bribri (Indigenous Costa Rican) American and African-descended poet and storyteller. Her poems and short works have been published in Yellow Medicine Review, The Under Review, Rock & Sling, and Poetry's first ever edition for children. She was the winner of the 2018 Vaunda Micheaux Nelson Award for a BIPOC writer with Lerner Publishing. She is the annual broadside editor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, where she gets to collaborate with the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts to bring incarcerated voices into the world. Saints of the Household is her debut novel. AriTison.com