SUNFLOWER

Following Songbird (2019), Laguna continues Jamila’s story in Australia, this time focusing on her relationships with her two best friends.

The story picks up six months after Jamila and her family left Kadhimiya, Baghdad, for Melbourne, Australia. Jamila is adjusting well to Australia and spending time with her best friend Eva. When she learns that Mina, her best friend from Iraq, is coming to Australia, she is excited to show her around and “share Australian sweets with her, milky ways and wagon wheels, and take her on the train to the city.” But after Mina gets to Australia, things do not go as Jamila thought they would, and her relationship with Eva changes. Mina is dealing with trauma from the war, and Jamila feels like she has to keep choosing between her two friends. Then Jamila and Eva learn that there will be no more choir, and Jamila comes up with a plan. Laguna weaves in Jamila’s and Mina’s memories of Iraq before the war as well as references to foods like samoon bread with sesame seeds and desserts such as halawat sha’riyya and klecha. Jamila’s thoughts, feelings, and struggles with friendship are real and honest; readers see glimpses of Eva’s and Mina’s lives through Jamila’s experiences. Jamila and Mina are Iraqi and Muslim; Eva’s race is not specified.

A poignant book about changing and growing friendships.