<B>The “astonishing” (<I>The New York Times Book Review</I>) and “inspirational” (<I>Shelf Awareness</I>) true story of Phiona Mutesi—a teenage chess prodigy from the slums of Uganda.</B><p>One day in 2005 while searching for food, nine-year-old Phiona Mutesi followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende, who had also grown up in the Kampala slums. Katende, a war refugee turned missionary, had an improbable dream: to empower kids through chess—a game so foreign there is no word for it in their native language. Laying a chessboard in the dirt, Robert taught the game each day. When he left at night, the kids played on with bottlecaps on scraps of cardboard. At first they came for a free bowl of porridge, but many grew to love the game that—like their daily lives—requires persevering against great obstacles. Of these kids, one stood out as an immense talent: Phiona.<BR><BR>By the age of eleven Phiona was her country’s junior champion and at fifteen, the national champion. In September 2010, she traveled to Siberia to compete in the Chess Olympiad, the world’s most prestigious team-chess event. Phiona dreams of becoming a Grandmaster, the most elite title in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world’s most unstable countries. <I >The Queen of Katwe</I> is a “remarkable” (NPR) book that shows how “Phiona’s story transcends the limitations of the chessboard” (Robert Hess, US Grandmaster).