The Mosquito Brothers

After he nearly drowns in a parking-lot puddle, Dinnn Needles is fearful of many things, including flying. When his 400 siblings swarm off without him, he finds time to dream — about family stories, a lost brother, adventures in The Wild, and, above all, how to be cool. At school in an abandoned air-conditioner, Dinnn learns about the deadly Pondhawk dragonfly and other dangers that lie beyond his home under a drive-in theater screen. But Dinnn never really takes to city life. Lonely and left out, he is filled with an unexplained longing. He hears about the red mini-van that brought his parents together and wonders about his extended family in the country. And then one day, as fate would have it, the red mini-van reappears, giving Dinnn a chance to visit to his relatives in The Wild. In the end, Dinnn discovers that being cool is a matter of what you do, especially for one's friends and family, including two new brothers. Accompanied by quirky line drawings by Spanish illustrator Erica Salcedo, this is a gently humorous and remarkably informative nature-adventure story about an unlikely pointy-nosed hero with big dreams and an even bigger heart.

Griffin Ondaatje is the author of The Monkey King and Other Stories, a collection of South Asian stories, folktales and legends, and The Camel in the Sun (Junior Library Guild selection), illustrated by Linda Wolfsgruber. A writer and filmmaker, he directed Complete Unknown, a documentary film about Bob Dylan. He has three children and lives in Toronto.