Storytelling at Its Finest
If you attended the Children’s Institute earlier this month, you were lucky to experience firsthand why Daniel Nayeri is such a treasure in our literary landscape. His keynote speech showcased his passion for books and indie bookstores and his ability to make words and ideas coalesce into visions of unparalleled magic and wonder.
Whether or not you were in that room in Milwaukee, you have the good fortune of always being able to access some of Daniel’s storytelling wizardry through his books. His astonishing debut biographical novel, Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story), will be coming in paperback in early August and can then immediately be handed to eager young readers who have already chewed through the stack of books they’d amassed at the beginning of the summer.
The central action in Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) is the story of the emigration of Daniel’s family from Iran and their eventual settling in Oklahoma in the early 1990s. It is an ode to his mother, who was the protector and provider in this journey as his father remained behind in Iran. Predictably, acclimating to living in the United States was a huge adjustment for young Daniel. But he tells the tale with such open-hearted honesty, humor, magic, and mystery that readers root for him right from the start and won’t want to stop reading as each chapter ends. This is by design. Daniel’s story is richly rooted in ancient Persian folklore, particularly in the tales of Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights, in which the heroine prolongs her life through evocative storytelling and cliffhanger endings. Readers will delight in this commingling of subjects as tales of ancient myth and enchantment shimmer alongside the humorous and heartbreaking story of a young Iranian boy coming of age in Oklahoma.
Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) won several awards upon its original publication in August 2020. These included the Michael L. Printz Award and the Christopher Award. It was also named to many Best of the Year book lists from outlets that included NPR, the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and the Wall Street Journal.
Readers that can’t get enough of Daniel should then move on to his second book, The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, which is his ode to his father and the expansive nature of love and family. It is a very different story but shares the same remarkable storytelling artistry.
Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) I 9781646142729 I $12.99 I Paperback I On Sale: 8/8