Skip to main content

The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas

The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas
Written by Kimberly Willis Holt 
Henry Holt and Company, 2021. Fiction.

Seventh grader, Rylee Wilson, has lived in the small town of Antler Texas her entire life. She knows everyone in town and everyone knows her and she wouldn't have it any other way. Her world seems almost perfect until her best friend Twig leaves for the summer, to travel abroad.  After waiting all summer for Twig's return, Rylee is surprised when Twig begins to distance herself from Rylee. As their  friendship continues to spiral downward, a new boy named Joe Toscani moves to town. The citizens of Antler  discover that Joe and his mother left New York City after Joe's father, a firefighter, died at the twin towers during the 9/11 attack. Eventually Joe and Rylee begin a friendship as they search for Zachary Beaver, an old friend of Rylee's dad.

This book is a great companion story to the novel When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. It deals in a very real way, with the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on America and gives readers a glimpse of the impact this event had on the lives of  so many people. It is also a story about friendship and how friends can help you overcome the difficult times in your life.  This story will tug at your heartstrings as you go on a delightful journey with the ambassador of nowhere Texas.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Kareem Between

  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

Winter 2026 Book Boxes

Looking for a new read? We’ve got you covered! Check out one of our Book Boxes for kids ages 9-12. Each Book Box contains a book to check out, as well as envelopes filled with fun surprises that you can open as you read along. We have two new books available to check out! Boxes can be put on hold through the library website, and can picked up at the Circulation Desk. Our One Dead Spy and The Case of the Missing Marquess Book Boxes will each be available to pick up from December 19, 2025 through December 30, 2026. Each child aged 9-12 can check out each Book Box once during that time, so get one now to read during winter break, or wait until summer and check it out then! One Dead Spy By Nathan Hale New York : Amulet Books, 2012. 127 pages. Comic. This graphic novel tells the tale of Nathan Hale, one of America's first spies, who was hanged for espionage in 1776. But in this version, just before he is set to be hanged he is eaten by a giant book, which he uses to explain the revoluti...