Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Versify (2022), 320 pages
Description
"Pesah has lived with leprosy for years, and the twins have spent most of that time working on a cure. Then Pesah has a vision: The Angel of Death will come for him on Rosh Hashanah, just one month away. So Ziva takes her brother and runs away to find doctors who can cure him. But when they meet and accidentally free a half-demon boy, he suggests paying his debt by leading them to the fabled city of Luz, where no one ever dies--the one place Pesah will be safe."--
Awards
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (Fiction — 2022)
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Children's Literature — 2023)
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Honor Book — Middle Grade — 2023)
CCBC Choices (2023)
Notable Children's Book (2023)
Evanston Public Library 101 Great Books for Kids (Fiction — 2022)
Texas Lone Star Reading List (2023)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Kids (Fiction for Older Readers — 2022)
MISelf in Books (Middle School — 2023)
Librarian Favorites Award (2023)
CPS Battle of the Books (Grades 4-6 — 2024)
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member acargile
This novel is a 2023 Lone Star selection. Yes, it's well done, however, I feel it's a book students will enjoy more if read with a class or in a book club. It would also be a good book for someone dealing with grief and loss. It's a book about death. This book can sort of be seen as historical
The book begins with Ziva cutting off one of Pesah's fingers. You eventually learn that Ziva's twin brother has leprosy. Ziva is the only person in the household who visits with him regularly, in person, and is also the only one who amputates his fingers as the body slowly dies off. He's covered in bandages from where the leprosy has attacked his skin. Pesah wants to be a doctor; he's super smart and, if given the chance, could find the cure for leprosy. Ziva determine that Pesah will NOT die on her watch.
No one can match Ziva's stubbornness. She listens to absolutely no one. She yells and does what she wants. It's her birthday, which means it's Pesah's birthday. He MUST be there. They try to explain that he can't. She dresses him and takes him; afterall, he likes parties and she doesn't. It's a very short party. No one will get near Pesah and then he seizes and has a vision. The vision shows him on a road with the Angel of Death. After this disastrous night, Ziva and Pesah's father dictates that she can no longer visit Pesah. She could get sick as well. Pesah will be moved to a colony for people like him. Ziva can't imagine life without Pesah. She sneaks the family wagon to Pesah's house and loads him up. They will undergo a journey to Luz, the fabled city where death cannot reach anyone. You can live forever.
The journey is the heart of the novel. When bandits appear quickly, they also find a shedim, a half-shade. He has some powers and will help them if they help him. He also does not fear Pesah and spends time with him as well. This journey is Ziva's journey to understanding and accepting death. The conversations that she has with the Angel of Death are enlightening and thought-provoking. The novel possesses so much love and grief--the value of death. If you've experienced loss, this novel will have to much to say to you. It's truly really good, but I'm not sure how many middle schoolers will read it because it's a thought-provoking novel instead of action.
Show More
fiction, representing the 10th-century Khazar kingdom. The note at the end of the novel asks you to get a map and find the places discussed in the novel.The book begins with Ziva cutting off one of Pesah's fingers. You eventually learn that Ziva's twin brother has leprosy. Ziva is the only person in the household who visits with him regularly, in person, and is also the only one who amputates his fingers as the body slowly dies off. He's covered in bandages from where the leprosy has attacked his skin. Pesah wants to be a doctor; he's super smart and, if given the chance, could find the cure for leprosy. Ziva determine that Pesah will NOT die on her watch.
No one can match Ziva's stubbornness. She listens to absolutely no one. She yells and does what she wants. It's her birthday, which means it's Pesah's birthday. He MUST be there. They try to explain that he can't. She dresses him and takes him; afterall, he likes parties and she doesn't. It's a very short party. No one will get near Pesah and then he seizes and has a vision. The vision shows him on a road with the Angel of Death. After this disastrous night, Ziva and Pesah's father dictates that she can no longer visit Pesah. She could get sick as well. Pesah will be moved to a colony for people like him. Ziva can't imagine life without Pesah. She sneaks the family wagon to Pesah's house and loads him up. They will undergo a journey to Luz, the fabled city where death cannot reach anyone. You can live forever.
The journey is the heart of the novel. When bandits appear quickly, they also find a shedim, a half-shade. He has some powers and will help them if they help him. He also does not fear Pesah and spends time with him as well. This journey is Ziva's journey to understanding and accepting death. The conversations that she has with the Angel of Death are enlightening and thought-provoking. The novel possesses so much love and grief--the value of death. If you've experienced loss, this novel will have to much to say to you. It's truly really good, but I'm not sure how many middle schoolers will read it because it's a thought-provoking novel instead of action.
Show Less
ISBN
0358572037 / 9780358572039