The Door of No Return

The #1 New York Times bestsellerShortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Writing'At once vivid and simple, lyrical and surgical, expressive and exacting' Lupita Nyong'oDreams are today’s answers for tomorrow’s questions.Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin has dreams of water, of its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets. He has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, West Africa, where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. But when the unthinkable – a sudden death – occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves. Yet Kofi’s dreams may be the key to his freedom…

"At once vivid and simple, lyrical and surgical, expressive and exacting, comforting and cutting" -- Lupita Nyong'o
"a gripping coming-of-age story" Guardian
"An intensely powerful coming-of-age story steeped in African tradition and mythology" Waterstones
"Yet another brilliant, engrossing verse novel - Kwame Alexander is one of the greats" -- Sarah Crossan
"[Alexander's] most ambitious work to date... This is a powerful work which draws much of its power from its portrayal of Kofi's life among the Asante and Kofi's restlessly upbeat and curious, if rather innocent, nature" Books for Keeps
"This illuminating, lyrical trilogy-opener follows a West African boy’s journey from his Asante Kingdom hometown to the brutal crossing of a ferocious sea" LoveReading4Kids

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books, including Rebound, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, The Crossover, winner of the Newbery Medal, and The Undefeated, winner of the Caldecott Medal. Kwame is also the recipient of several other awards, including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and the Coretta Scott King Author Honour. He is the writer and executive producer of The Crossover TV series, which won a Daytime Emmy Award, and is co-founder of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy programme.

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