From the award-winning author of Small Mercies, named a Best Middle-Grade Book of 2020 by Kirkus ReviewsI've decided that some people put out fires and leave the world cold and hopeless and others nurse the kindling, blow like mad and fan the flames with whatever they have at hand - so that everyone feels its warmth. A lot of things can feel just out of reach in 12-year-old Boipelo Seku's small, impoverished village of Cedarville, South Africa. The idea of one day living in a house that's big enough for his family is just a faraway dream. But when Boi stumbles on a story about a Canadian man who traded his way from a paperclip to a house, Boi hatches his own trading plan starting with a tiny clay cow he molded from river mud. Trade by trade, Boi and his best friend Potso discover that even though Cedarville lacks so many of the things that made the paperclip trade possible, it is fuller than either of them ever imagined. In a chain of events that turns Boi's tiny spark into a warming f
Mercy lives in modern-dayPietermaritzburg, South Africa with hereccentric foster aunts—twoelderly sisters so poor that they can only affordone lightbulb. A nasty housing developer is eying their house
Mercy lives in modern-day Pietermaritzburg, South Africa with her eccentric foster aunts—two elderly sisters so poor, they can only afford one lightbulb. A nasty housing developer is eying their house
