Overview

FROM THE BESTSELLING WINNER OF THE PRIX SORCIÈRES From Europe to Africa to the Caribbean, this first installment in the Alma trilogy tells a gripping story of hope, perseverance, and love that readers will not soon forget. 1786. Isolated from the rest of the world, thirteen-year-old Alma lives with her family in a lush African valley. She spends her days exploring their blissful homeland. But everything changes when her little brother finds a secret way out of the valley. Alma sets out to find him, but she soon must face terrible dangers in a continent ravaged by the slave trade. The journey to bring her brother home becomes a harrowing adventure to save herself, her family, and the memory of her people. Meanwhile, in Lisbon, Joseph Mars, an orphan turned petty thief devises a great plan to land himself aboard a slave ship, The Sweet Amelie, on the ultimate quest--to find a pirate's treasure in the far reaches of the Caribbean. But as time passes, he learns he is not alone in his hunger for the treasure, which forces Joseph to rethink the true purpose of his presence aboard The Sweet Amelie. The destinies of a large cast of characters, including Alma and Joseph, become intertwined both on land and at sea in this unforgettable adventure of resilience and compassion as de Fombelle quietly elucidates the slave trade and the infamous Middle Passage for middle grade and YA readers.

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9781609457877

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Praise for Timothee de Fombelle Engrossing, propulsive, and full of dazzling images and unforgettable characters...it has all the ingredients of a masterpiece. --Telerama Epic...The Wind Rises proves that Timothee de Fombelle belongs with the very great. --ELLE Magazine (France) A fantastic adventure that is also an accurate depiction of the barbarity of slavery. A major achievement. --Ouest France Luminous...sheds light on the violence inherent in American society. --AcuaLitte Mixes the historical and the romantic in a dark whirlwind. --Public Senat De Fombelle writes minimally for maximum effect...packs a punch. --The Times (UK) on Captain Rosalie Beautiful writing, intricate plotting, and breathless reveals. --Kirkus Reviews on Vango (Starred Review)

Praise for Timothee de Fombelle Fombelle seamlessly narrates a compelling tale of understanding and solidarity ideal for advanced readers...Fombelle does not omit the inhumane brandings, punishments, and remorseless treatment of the enslaved individuals, making this title a strong fiction companion to social studies units on enslaved Africans. --School Library Journal Engrossing, propulsive, and full of dazzling images and unforgettable characters...it has all the ingredients of a masterpiece. --Telerama Epic...The Wind Rises proves that Timothee de Fombelle belongs with the very great. --ELLE Magazine (France) A fantastic adventure that is also an accurate depiction of the barbarity of slavery. A major achievement. --Ouest France Luminous...sheds light on the violence inherent in American society. --AcuaLitte Mixes the historical and the romantic in a dark whirlwind. --Public Senat De Fombelle writes minimally for maximum effect...packs a punch. --The Times (UK) on Captain Rosalie Beautiful writing, intricate plotting, and breathless reveals. --Kirkus Reviews on Vango (Starred Review)

Praise for The Wind Rises De Fombelle uses richly detailed, consistently engaging prose, suspenseful atmosphere, and a complex cast to deliver an action-packed tale about heartbreak and resilience. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Art and text conspire to create a brilliantly formed and unforgettable world of action, adventure, and, in its gritty depiction of the treatment of the soon-to-be enslaved, heartbreaking realism. --Booklist (Starred Review) Fombelle seamlessly narrates a compelling tale of understanding and solidarity ideal for advanced readers...Fombelle does not omit the inhumane brandings, punishments, and remorseless treatment of the enslaved individuals, making this title a strong fiction companion to social studies units on enslaved Africans. --School Library Journal To some extent, the routine features of the adventure are in tension with the particular sorrows of the kidnapped...De Fombelle recognizes many of these agonies, and his succinct and devastating explanations of the customs of the slave trade powerfully animate the facts. --New York Times Book Review An intimate look at the consequences of slavery on a personal level brings the painful episode directly to the reader and demands engagement. A good tale with a real moral. This should find its proper place in educational environments and library reading programs as well as the shelves of book lovers of all ages. --Reading the West This expertly plotted, thrilling adventure offers many surprising twists and leaves the reader eagerly awaiting the next installment. The marvelous gray-scale illustrations by Francois Place add much to the tale. --Buffalo News In this debut title of a planned trilogy, de Fombelle's intricate plotting, virtuosic pacing, and Dickensian cast of sharply individuated characters propel readers into the dank corners of the triangle trade. --Bulletin of The Center for Children's Books Engrossing, propulsive, and full of dazzling images and unforgettable characters...it has all the ingredients of a masterpiece. --Telerama Epic...The Wind Rises proves that Timothee de Fombelle belongs with the very great. --ELLE Magazine (France) A fantastic adventure that is also an accurate depiction of the barbarity of slavery. A major achievement. --Ouest France Luminous...sheds light on the violence inherent in American society. --AcuaLitte Mixes the historical and the romantic in a dark whirlwind. --Public Senat Praise for Timothee de Fombelle De Fombelle writes minimally for maximum effect...packs a punch. --The Times (UK) on Captain Rosalie Beautiful writing, intricate plotting, and breathless reveals. --Kirkus Reviews on Vango (Starred Review)

Author Information

Timothée de Fombelle is a Paris-based playwright, and author of award-winning fiction. His first series, Toby Alone and Toby Alone and the Secrets of the Tree has been published in twenty-seven languages and won numerous awards, including France's prestigious Prix Sorcières and the Marsh Award. Holly James is a translator, writer, and editor from the UK. She translates from French, German and Spanish. She currently lives in Paris. François Place was born in 1957. After studying at l'école Estienne in Paris, he began working as an illustrator, first in advertising and later in the world of children's books. He has written and illustrated numerous books, which have won him many prizes, including the BolognaRagazzi Award and the Prix Sorcières.

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