About This Book
What happens to the child left behind? Jubair's family is stuck in Myanmar, until his mother escapes—with three out of four children. On the cusp of adolescence, the young boy—interned to a farmer—is filled with rage. Jubair is left to sleep in the woods and fend for himself. He does not know how to read and write, so why does his mother even bother smuggling in these letters? Jubair begins to express this anger in his own letters, as he develops a level of literacy, eventually becoming a reader and writer. An epistolary novel, Why No Goodbye? explores loss, grief and transcendence.
Blurbs
"—Marie-Helene Bertino, author of 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas
—Suzanne Weyn, author of The Bar Code Tattoo trilogy
—Hasanthika Sirisena, author of The Other One, winner of The Juniper Prize for Fiction
—Matthew Smith, co-founder and CEO, Fortify Rights
The Author
Pamela L. Laskin is a lecturer in the English Department at The City College, where she directs The Poetry Outreach Center and teaches children's writing in the MFA Division. She is the author of five books of poetry and several picture books, most recently Homer the Little Stray Cat (2017). Harper Collins published Ronit & Jamil, a Palestinian/Israeli Romeo and Juliet in verse for teens, in 2017. She is a member of PSA, American Academy of Poets & SCBWI.
