At the beginning as Kek tries speaking English, his “mouth just wants to chew the words / and spit them on the ground.” Midway through the novel, Kek’s neighbor-friend Hannah says in jest, “This is your punishment for being a moron.” Kek replies, “A moron is a not-smart boy?” Kek is beginning to be able to understand words from context. It serves a practical purpose–explaining the way the reader should read the poems.Īs the story progresses, language becomes symbolic of Kek’s transition into American culture. This initial explanation of language suggests that while the poems are all in English, sometimes they are translating what is spoken in another language. She does so directly, as Kek describes how he communicates with Dave, the man from the refugee organization who picks him up from the airport: In the second poem, “Old Words, New Words,” Applegate introduces an element of the story: language. Introducing Threads: Using a Direct Approach

Here, we’ll look at ways she introduces threads and varies their length. As writers, we can learn much from how she threads these elements throughout the novel.

As Kek’s story unfolds–in a series of first-person poems–Applegate weaves together plot, character, and story elements deftly. It is at once a story of leaving a life behind, engaging with a new world, and exploring how to bridge the two. Kek, a ten-year-old refugee from Sudan, lands in Minnesota in the middle of winter and has to make sense of his new world. Katherine Applegate’s novel-in-verse, Home of the Brave, is an intricate story.

And the home of the brave