A wholesome story with room and grace for all the characters to learn and grow.
For eighth grader Ali Khan, being Muslim, Pakistani, and an immigrant to Canada has always felt like holding the short end of the stick.
Dealing with changing friendship dynamics, the beginnings of a crush, his family’s social status, and the tug of his interests versus parental pressures has put Ali in a constant state of flux. His parents had to take on odd jobs—his doctor father drives a taxi, his schoolteacher mother assists their apartment manager, and his retired professor grandfather works as a mall security guard. Ali and his brother, Osama, who prefer to go by Al and Sam, try to fit in with their peers, but they struggle with microaggressions. At school, constant jokes about their food and skin color chip away at their self-esteem. At home, their parents expect them to excel academically and, though Ali loves writing poetry, frown at creative pursuits. Ali’s conflicting thoughts—his fraught relationship with his white best friend, his pride at his father’s heroic delivery of a baby in his taxi, and a frightening racist incident—find release in his poems. This coming-of-age story examines issues that are relatable to many Muslim readers, including self-censoring of one’s identity, deflecting racist banter, and facing hate crimes. Though some of the writing feels preachy, Ali’s teacher’s persistent efforts to reach him, his grandfather’s support, and his friends’ solidarity offer road maps for building community.
A wholesome story with room and grace for all the characters to learn and grow. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781459837942
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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