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