How long does it take to read King and the Dragonflies?
Kacen Callender, Marc Donat Balcells
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender, Marc Donat Balcells takes about 3 hours 22 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 22 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2020. 184 pages, about 50,600 words. Written for children.
7 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 5 hours 37 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 22 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 7 minutes |
The page count is the median across 11 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family. It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy-that he thinks he might be gay. "You don't want anyone to think you're gay too, do you?" But when Sandy goes missing, sparking a town-wide search, and King finds his former best friend hiding in a tent in his backyard, he agrees to help Sandy escape from his abusive father, and the two begin an adventure as they build their own private paradise down by the bayou and among the dragonflies. As King's friendship with Sandy is reignited, he's forced to confront questions about himself and the reality of his brother's death.
Subjects: Children's fiction, LBGTQ, YA, middle grade books, LGBTQ middle grade, Lambda Literary Awards
