A perfect first book for this new Muslim imprint.
A Pakistani-American girl starting middle school learns how to cope with the changes and challenges she faces at home, at school, and within her close-knit Muslim community.
True to her parents’ endearment for her, geeta (“song” in Urdu), Amina loves to sing. But unlike the contestants on her favorite reality TV show The Voice, Amina shuns the spotlight—she’s a bundle of nerves in front of an audience! She’s happy living her life as usual, hanging out with her best friend, Korean-American Soojin, playing the piano, and attending Sunday school at the Islamic Center. Except that life isn’t “as usual” anymore. In fact, everything is changing, and changing fast. Soojin wants an “American” name to go with her new citizenship status, and even worse, Soojin starts getting chummy with their elementary school nemesis, a white girl named Emily, leaving a jealous Amina fuming. Then, her visiting uncle voices his disapproval of her piano-playing, saying it’s forbidden in Islam. Finally, when the Islamic Center is vandalized, Amina feels like the whole world as she knows it is crumbling around her. With the help and support of the larger community, the Islamic Center is slowly rebuilt, and Amina comes to terms with her identity and culture, finding strength in her own voice. Khan deftly—and subtly—weaves aspects of Pakistani and Muslim culture into her story, allowing readers to unconsciously absorb details and develop understanding and compassion for another culture and faith. Amina’s middle school woes and the universal themes running through the book transcend culture, race, and religion.
A perfect first book for this new Muslim imprint. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9206-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
An insightful read that highlights the struggles and strides young people make toward self-awareness.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
Don’t tell that to Grace Eller, whose one-track mind is focused squarely on academic achievement. When she’s bested for both the creative writing and “Eighth-Grade Top Scholar” awards by friend-turned-rival Jonah Perkins, her sense of self is battered. What’s an overachiever who fails to achieve? With help from older sister Celia and cousin Avery, Grace comes up with a summer goals list. She’s poised for a journey of self-exploration: Babysitting Teddy (her dad’s girlfriend’s 4-year-old son), taking an ungraded creative writing class, learning to embrace her naturally curly hair, and training for a half-marathon are all activities that uproot Grace from her comfort zone. She discovers that opening herself up to new experiences allows her to let other people in and empowers her to redefine success on her own terms. This well-paced novel is a balm for readers who may be struggling with senses of self that are narrowly defined by grades or athletic performance. The supportive sibling and cousin dynamics enrich the narrative by finding the complementary middle ground in a juxtaposition of opposites. The authentically awkward navigation of a blossoming romance fuels Grace’s journey of emotional development, while an amicable post-divorce parental relationship tenderly reveals the uncomfortable truth that parents are people, too. Most characters are cued white; there’s racial diversity among the background characters.
An insightful read that highlights the struggles and strides young people make toward self-awareness. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781419768750
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Rich, complex, and confidently voiced.
Lucy finds solace in her late mother’s passion for shark biology during a summer that brings a new grief.
First-person narrator Lucy and neighbor Fred are compiling a field guide to animals they find near their Rockport, Massachusetts, home. Lucy is the artist, Fred the scientist, and their lifelong friendship is only just hinting that it could become something more. Lucy’s mother, who died of a brain aneurysm when Lucy was 7, five years earlier in 1991, was a recognized shark biologist; her father is a police diver. When a great white is snagged by a local fisherman—a family friend—video footage of an interview with Lucy’s mother surfaces on the news, and Lucy longs to know more. But then another loved one dies, drowned in a quarry accident, and it is Lucy’s father who recovers the body—in their small community it seems everyone is grappling with the pain. Lucy’s persistence in learning about the anatomy of sharks in order to draw them is a kind of homage to those she’s lost. Most of the characters are white; a marine scientist woman of color and protégée of Lucy’s mother plays a key role. Allen offers, through Lucy’s voice, a look at the intersection of art, science, friendship, and love in a way that is impressively nuanced and realistic while offering the reassurance of connection.
Rich, complex, and confidently voiced. (Historical fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3160-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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