“From the first words we are drawn into Khosi’s world.  It is a world of violence and hardship, but also of kindness and redemption.  There can never be enough written about the experiences of people dealing with AIDS, and the ability of humanity to find joy and hope in the midst of great despair and difficulty.  Young readers will easily identify with Khosi’s struggles and the way her strong character struggles to rise above all the chaos around her.  A great achievement by J.L. Powers.” --Deborah Ellis, author of The Breadwinner trilogy.

“J.L. Powers takes the challenges and sorrows of contemporary South Africa and renders them powerfully immediate in the character of  Khosi, a girl negotiating coming of age in her post-apartheid, AIDS-ravaged country.  Provocative, unvarnished, loving.” –Sarah Ellis, professor in the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and reviewer for The Horn Book and the New York Times.

“In a literary landscape cluttered with the imagined powers of the paranormal, This Thing Called the Future introduces us to the reality that supernatural strength exists here and now.  Gripping, honest, and eye-opening, this book will change the way you see the world.”—Emily Wing Smith, author of The Way He Lived and Back When You Were Easier to Love

Within the woven spirit of tradition and new beliefs, 12-year old Khosi’s heartbreaking and redemptive coming-of-age story compels us to face the demons within cultural superstitions and choose a future that can be changed. --Ann Angel, author of Silent Embrace, Perspectives on Birth and Adoption (Catalyst Book Press) and Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing (Amulet Books), winner of the 2011 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award