Review of Printz Winner: Everything Sad is Untrue (A true story)

 



Summary:
Khosrou (whom everyone calls 'Daniel') is a story teller and this book is ample evidence of that. Written from his vantage point of 7th grade  Khosrou/ Daniel this book encompasses stories he tried (tried because he wasn't often believed) to tell his class in Oklahoma to elaborate on his family's history in Iran, and stories of what it is like for a religious refugee from Iran to try to assimilate into life in Oklahoma. 

Criteria:
This book was a Printz winner, published within the last 10 years, and I had not read it previously.


Response:
I have a confession: while I had not read this book previously, I had tried to read it. Twice. I would get a few pages in, something else looked better, then I would need to return it to the library. One of the first -- maybe the first -- story in the book is of Daniel as a small child arriving at his grandfather's house just in time to see the bull slaughtered by a slashed neck. The bull was for dinner BECAUSE Daniel was there. The story was quite descriptive and, to be honest, icky. There are a few other stories in there that would fit in the icky category. I think the icky stories may appeal to some of the younger readers


Nayeri, Daniel. Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a True Story). Thorndike Press, a Part of Gale, a Cengage Company Gale, 2021.

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