Street of Storytellers

Name: Street of Storytellers
ISBN: 9781578690169

by Doug Wilhelm

Publisher

Rootstock Publishing

Publication

Sep 10, 2019

Format

Paperback/Softback

Illustrated

Price

13.95

Dimensions

5.5 x 8.5

ISBN

9781578690169

Pages

230

Age

13 - 17 years

Rights Sold

🌍 World Wide Rights Available

Description

Luke is an American kid, in a place he doesn’t understand. In this multicultural thriller, a teenager who loves music is angry with his father, blaming his parents’ divorce on his dad’s obsession with finishing a book about a lost ancient civilization in a dangerous part of Asia. But his father badly wants his son to understand—so he brings Luke to Peshawar, an age-old crossroads city in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier. To punish his dad, Luke refuses to learn anything about the project, and instead, is drawn into the strange, intriguing Old City, where a violent new extremism is on the rise. Luke is dazzled by the beautiful Danisha, but they can’t ever be seen together. He’s recruited by her brother to assist the jihadis, but he also bonds with Yusuf, an Afghan refugee who knows what could happen to friends of jihadis. Then there are the musicians Luke befriends, and a mysterious Sufi teacher who opens his eyes.

Awards & Endorsements

Award

2021 Notable Social Studies Trade Book, awarded by National Council for the Social Studies and The Children’s Book Council

2020 Silver Medal, Teen Fiction, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards

2020 Best Young Adult Fiction, Independent Press Awards

Review

“Street of Storytellers is a storytelling delight, following the journey of a teenage American boy into the teeming bazaars of Pakistan and a world of musicians, refugees, scholars, and the religious fanatics who will become the followers of Osama bin Laden. The story is rich in detail and suspense. Young Luke, resentful of his father’s research project and unwilling to learn about the culture around him, ends up learning more than he could ever have expected.” – David Moats, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist

“An entertaining, thoughtful look at a complicated historical, religious, artistic, and cultural crossroads.” – Kirkus Reviews

“This part-coming of age, part-historical novel had me from the beginning with its superb writing and suspense. I read this in one sitting and was fascinated. A story that takes place in the 80s with flashbacks of certain events has such impressive details of everything involved I felt I was right beside the characters seeing everything so vividly. This is a perfect book for adults and young adults as well who enjoy multicultural thriller fiction.” – theweekendbooker, book blogger

Author(s)

Doug Wilhelm

Doug Wilhelm is a full-time writer and editor in Weybridge, Vermont. His 16 published books for young readers includes The Revealers (FSG 2003, Macmillan/Square Fish ’11), which has been the focus of reading-and-discussion projects in well over 1,000 middle schools and continues to be a perennial choice for gradewide and all-school reads across the country. A production of the play version of The Revealers, by the National Children’s Theatre of South Africa, was nominated for the 2015 Naledi Award—South Africa’s top theatrical honor. Doug has visited over 100 schools across the U.S., connects readily with young readers, and maintains an active email list of over 600 school teachers, librarians, administrators, and other educators. His website, www.dougwilhelm.com, is a resource center for working with his novels, and has averaged as many as 4,000 hits per day.