Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein: Based on a True Story

Elizabeth Bewley at HMH has bought Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein, a middle-grade novel by Jennifer Roy, based on Ali Fadhil’s real-life story. Set in the spice-filled markets and curtain-drawn homes of 1991 Iraq and told through the eyes of 12-year-old Ali, a boy preoccupied by real-life dictators and video game villains, this book offers a glimpse into the everyday realities of growing up under the shadow of Saddam Hussein’s regime. It’s scheduled for spring 2017.