This thoughtful and uplifting volume will keep readers turning pages year-round; here’s to many more.
Fifteen accomplished Muslim writers from various regions and backgrounds share Eid-themed short stories in this middle-grade collection.
Stylish Hawa from Philly spends Eid in New York City with the Mandinka side of the family and learns to get along with her cousin. Kareem buys himself a new bike, then learns how to embody the meaning of his own name: “generous.” Most of the young protagonists live in majority non-Muslim countries—Americans of various ethnicities in the United States, a Syrian family living in a refugee camp on a Greek island—and identity issues are sometimes in the foreground. The traditions depicted vary, but the themes of family, community, and faith permeate the volume. Whether making or buying special foods—Eid brownies, doughnuts, lontong—or taking care of younger siblings, these young heroes and heroines help make Eid special for others. The diversity within the collection is impressive, including several blended families and a recently converted one, and while the writing varies in style and quality, each story is engaging, full of emotion and thought. Particularly powerful are Jameela Thompkins-Bigelow’s poem connecting present-day Eid scenes to imaginings of the early Muslims who arrived in the Americas enslaved and Hanna Alkaf’s lyrical account of a Malay girl’s attempt to save Eid for her family. A well-placed graphic story by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Alfageeh, who also contributes a frontispiece to each story, provides a reprieve midway through the book.
This thoughtful and uplifting volume will keep readers turning pages year-round; here’s to many more. (Anthology. 8-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4083-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone.
A 7-year-old descends into the Land of the Lost in search of his beloved comfort object.
Jack has loved Dur Pig long enough to wear the beanbag toy into tattered shapelessness—which is why, when his angry older stepsister chucks it out the car window on Christmas Eve, he not only throws a titanic tantrum and viciously rejects the titular replacement pig, but resolves to sneak out to find DP. To his amazement, the Christmas Pig offers to guide him to the place where all lost Things go. Whiffs of childhood classics, assembled with admirable professionalism into a jolly adventure story that plays all the right chords, hang about this tale of loss and love. Along with family drama, Rowling stirs in fantasy, allegory, and generous measures of social and political commentary. Pursued by the Land’s cruel and monstrous Loser, Jack and the Christmas Pig pass through territories from the Wastes of the Unlamented, where booger-throwing Bad Habits roam, to the luxurious City of the Missed for encounters with Hope, Happiness, and Power (a choleric king who rejects a vote that doesn’t go his way). A joyful reunion on the Island of the Beloved turns poignant, but Christmas Eve being “a night for miracles and lost causes,” perhaps there’s still a chance (with a little help from Santa) for everything to come right? In both the narrative and Field’s accomplished, soft-focus illustrations, the cast presents White.
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-79023-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
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