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From Stonewall Honor–winning writer SJ Sindu, author of Shakti, and celebrated illustrator Dion MBD comes a powerful coming-of-age teen graphic novel that follows one girl's journey to Sri Lanka to reconnect with her long-lost mother during the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Perfect for fans of Persepolis and Almost American Girl.
Ever since she turned sixteen, Nimmi has wanted to see her mother. Though she has a loving but overprotective father and a budding relationship, she yearns to travel to Sri Lanka to confront the mother who refused to leave the island during a war, not even for Nimmi's sake. Her father is going back for the first time as a reporter on assignment, but he refuses to take her, deeming Sri Lanka too dangerous.
But then Nimmi's mother appears to her in a dream, asking her to come find her, and Nimmi knows she must go. Her father is livid when he sees her at baggage claim, but by then it's too late, and he reluctantly agrees to help Nimmi make contact with her mother. In Sri Lanka, Nimmi tags along with her father and his guide, past checkpoints and armed soldiers and increasing hints of the war that rages there.
However, the day after Christmas, disaster strikes and a tsunami ravages the island. Stranded amid the devastation and destruction, can Nimmi reunite with her mother? Through her journey, Nimmi might just learn that the person she most needed to find was herself.
"The characters' human resilience and grit shine through beautifully in the straightforward text and fluid artwork executed in a muted palette...Parenthood, found family, migration, and war are some of the themes that run through this poignant narrative. A strikingly illustrated story of love and war." —Kirkus Reviews
"Expressive illustrations vividly portray both the chaos of military rule and the emotional complexity of Nimmi's journey...A compelling, heartfelt story, and an excellent addition to most YA graphic novel collections." —School Library Journal
This information about Tall Water was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
SJ Sindu is a Tamil diaspora writer whose works include the novels Marriage of a Thousand Lies (winner of the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and an ALA Stonewall Honor Book) and Blue-Skinned Gods (finalist for a Lambda Literary Award) as well as the graphic novel Shakti, the short story collection The Goth House Experiment, and the chapbooks I Once Met You But You Were Dead and Dominant Genes. Sindu holds a PhD in English and creative writing from Florida State University and is an assistant professor of creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University. More at sjsindu.com.
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