58 pages • 1 hour read
B. B. AlstonAmari and the Night Brothers
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Twelve-year-old Amari Peters waits in the principal’s office of Jefferson Academy after shoving another student. As the only Black scholarship student at Jefferson Academy, Amari has been subject to constant bullying, but today she’s finally snapped. Amari shoved one of her bullies when the girl joked that Amari’s older brother Quinton, who has been missing for several months, is dead. Quinton is a highly successful alumnus of Jefferson; he was an exceptional student and dazzled everyone with his intelligence and worked a mysterious but lucrative job before he vanished. Amari idolizes her brother yet finds herself lacking when she measures herself against his success.
Amari lives with her single mother (Mama) in the Rosewood housing projects, nicknamed “the ‘Wood.” Mama works long shifts at the hospital to support her family, and despairs that if Amari loses her scholarship at Jefferson Academy, Mama will not be able to give Amari the opportunity to broaden her horizons and have a promising future. Amari and Mama are very close, and both struggle to cope with Quinton’s disappearance. Despite Mama’s words, Amari feels uninterested in her future and can only focus on bringing Quinton home. She scours her brother’s email for clues to his whereabouts and receives a notification for a delivery from “Discreet Deliveries” to Amari Peters.
Chapter 2 Summary
An oddly-dressed man delivers a briefcase to Amari, addressed to her from Quinton. Inside, Amari finds a pair of shades; when she puts them on, she hears her brother’s voice.
Chapter 3 Summary
The shades launch Amari into a “Wakeful Dream,” an interactive holographic recording Quinton made of himself before he disappeared. Aboard a flying pirate ship, Quinton shows Amari the International Railways of Atlantis, an intersecting network of rail lines deep undersea. He anticipated that his job at “the Bureau” could endanger him, and he recorded this Wakeful Dream so that Amari could experience the wonders of the world as he has. He has left a nomination for her, but the Wakeful Dream ends before he can say for what.
Chapter 4 Summary
Further instructions hidden in the briefcase direct Amari to attend an interview for her nomination. On her way out of the ‘Wood, she bumps into her childhood friend Jayden. Jayden used to receive after-school tutoring from Quinton, but now that Quinton is gone, Jayden has given up on his schooling. Because Jayden’s mother is often absent, Jayden has learned to look out for himself; he runs with a gang of older boys to make money. His situation reminds Amari that people besides her depend on Quinton, and she makes Jayden promise to leave the gang if she can bring Quinton back.
Chapter 5 Summary
At the interview, Amari learns that Quinton has nominated her for a place at a summer camp, but the recruiter can’t give her any more details until she accepts her nomination. Although nervous, Amari remembers the wonders of the underwater railways and her determination to find her brother, and she accepts.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
In the first several chapters, Alston balances exposition with action to establish important characters, key relationships, and core themes in the narrative. Chapter 1 constructs Amari’s internal landscape and conflicts and uses setting to characterize Amari’s world and the external conflicts facing her; meanwhile, Chapters 2-5 push Amari over the threshold into the supernatural world.
Chapter 1 opens with Amari in the principal’s office for shoving another student. The incident reflects many of the conflicts facing her that will persist throughout the narrative. Externally, Amari struggles against prejudice and stereotyping, and grapples with the situation of her brother’s disappearance. Internally, Amari fights with her feelings of inadequacy. This scene also establishes her strong bonds with her family and the mystery of her brother’s disappearance. Through Amari’s first-person perspective, Alston establishes her important character traits and relationships. Amari is caring, honest, and driven. She has a close relationship with her mother, but idolizes her brother Quinton, through whom Amari ultimately finds the support to develop confidence in herself.
In addition to the theme surrounding identity and self-confidence, Alston also introduces the conflict at the heart of the Hope in the Face of Prejudice theme. It’s clear in Amari’s interactions with the girl at her school that she is often confronted with racism and stereotyping. This conflict will follow her into the supernatural world, where she will face prejudice as an illegal magician. The introduction of this conflict here lays the groundwork for the parallel between Amari’s two experiences.
Setting plays an important role in constructing the narrative’s themes. The stark differences between Jefferson Academy and Rosewood reflect different realities, which communicate the novel’s themes about privilege. When Amari first enters her neighborhood, she reflects that the neighborhoods surrounding Jefferson Academy are “brighter” and that “where [she’s] from feels gray in comparison” (6). The diction here communicates the idea that the wealthier, privileged side of town affords its residents more opportunity to live enriching lives, while the poverty in Amari’s neighborhood keeps its residents trapped in struggle.
The Wakeful Dream in Chapter 3 establishes a primary theme for Amari’s character: Self-Confidence and Discovering Identity. Quinton nominated Amari for the Bureau so that she could see the potential the world holds for her, and that she holds within herself (23). Although at this point Amari is solely focused on bringing Quinton home, Quinton wants to give Amari the opportunity for growth, and this desire reflects his love for his sister.
Chapter 4 introduces Jayden and foreshadows Amari’s ability to have a positive influence. Jayden is an important character because he helps Amari realize that she has the potential to be the hero for them that she sees in Quinton. When Amari hears that Jayden has quit school because Quinton isn’t there to tutor him anymore, she immediately decides that the only solution is to bring Quinton back, disregarding her own ability to help Jayden. Later in the novel, it is Amari who resolves Jayden’s conflicts, demonstrating that she can have a positive influence just like Quinton.
In Chapter 5, Amari accepts her summons into the supernatural world, seeking her brother. This reinforces the theme of Bonds of Family Loyalty, demonstrating how Amari’s love for Quinton motivates her. The acceptance of her nomination positions Amari to take her first steps across the threshold between her two worlds in the subsequent chapters.
