by Daniel Nayeri
publisher’s synopsis
A new all-ages adventure tale from Printz Medal Winner, Daniel Nayeri
This is the tale of an exciting journey along the Silk Road with a young Monk and his newfound guardian, Samir, a larger than life character and the so-called “Seller of Dreams”. The man is a scammer; his biggest skill being the ability to talk his way into getting what he wants.
While that talking did save Monkey’s life, it has left a lot of people furious with Samir— furious enough to hire assassins. Monkey decides to try and save Samir from the attempts on his life—as a way to pay off his debt! If he can save Samir six times, he’ll be a free man…but will they all survive that long?
This is the type of book that’s tricky to write a review for. You want to talk about it, but at the same time, you don’t want to give anything away. You honestly have to join Monkey and Samir on the Silk Road and experience the story for yourself.
In many ways, this is a story about love–not romantic love, but the love we have for others. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of adventure. Nayeri brings the Silk Road to life and makes it feel like an almost fantastical place.
As with his debut novel, Nayeri is a gifted writer. I understand the many reviews commenting on how they don’t don’t see the book fitting the target audience of middlegrade, but I do think it fits middlegrade. Nayeri’s writing is simply different than most MG novels out there and provides a challenge to expand their literary horizons. I also think The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams would work wonderfully as a readaloud.
I went into this novel with high expectations, and I was not disappointed.
Cautions: brief moderate/heavy violence; brief description of blood; discussions of various religions and worldviews; light romance
Hailey Huntington 
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