Amina's Song by Hena Khan

 

We first met Amina Khokar, a middle grader living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in Amina's Voice. She's a Pakistani American and even though she has perfect pitch and a beautiful singing voice, she also had crippling stage fright. With the support of family, especially her uncle Thaya Jaan visiting from Pakistan, and friends, Amina was able to ultimately perform in public.

Now, Amina and her family are spending their summer vacation visiting family in Lahore, Pakistan. Amina has fallen in love with the country and has become very close to her cousin Zohra, Thaya Jaan's daughter. Just before they leave Pakistan to return home, Thaya Jaan challenges her to "show people in America the beauty of Pakistan. They don't know this place like you do now." How, Amina wonders, is she supposed to the that?

Back home, Amina and her friends are starting 7th grade, but to her disappointment, no one seems interested in hearing about her trip to Pakistan. However, when her history teacher gives the class an interactive learning assignment on the first day of class, Amina may have just found the outlet she needs for carrying out Thaya Jaan's challenge. Students must pick a person from history who has made a positive contribution and thoroughly research them, to the point of becoming the person they pick by the end of the term.  

Amina is excited to pick Malala Yousafzai, but when she presents her initial report to the class, it isn't her accomplishments that the class focuses on, but rather the oppressive conditions by the Taliban in Pakistan with regard to women and girls. Again, Amina is disappointed and frustrated. What can she do to help people know the Pakistan she loves so much?

Meanwhile, Amina meets Nico, a new kids in school who is also very much interested in music and has a real talent for mixing to create different sounds. Encouraged by her music teacher, Ms. Holly, Amina has been playing around with composing songs to express herself. She's been keep a diary of her thoughts and feelings for a while, recognizing that her experiences have changed her, but unable to express them quite the way she wants. Could a song be the answer with Nico's help?   

On top of that, Amina learns that her uncle Thaya Jaan has become ill again and will require delicate heart surgery.  Seventh grade is proving to be a year of changes, challenges, identity questions and more for 12-year-old Amina Khokar, all of which makes for a very satisfying sequel. 

In Amina's Voice, most of the conflicts in Amina's life were external, but in Amina's Song, they are more internal, having to do with who she is and is becoming. Though Amina is changing and growing up, she narrates her life with the same open honesty as in Amina's Voice, even when things aren't going as well as they could. And she is still somewhat flawed, which makes her a very interesting character. I felt she is a more confident girl and I liked especially liked seeing the changes she goes through, even challenging some of her mother's control. I have to admit, the way she handled the history project and her uncle's challenge surprised me and at first seemed so out character, but then I also cheered her on for it, even if her teacher was not receptive. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Amina's Song and wondered if there might be a third novel in the making, since this one left a few loose ends that could be tied up nicely. Meanwhile, I highly recommend this to fans of Amina's and to those who haven't met her, though I might consider reading book one first. There are references to it in Amina's Song, but they are made clear in Amina's Voice. 

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was an eARC gratefully received from NetGalley

MMGM: More to the Story by Hena Khan

**May Contain Spoilers**

This re-imagining of Louisa May Alcott's 1868/69 novel Little Women has been wonderfully updated for today's readers. It is still the story of the four sisters and their parents, the Mirza family of Pakistani Americans Muslims, no longer living in 19th century New England, but in present day Atlanta, Georgia. And hurray, Laurie isn't gone either, he is now a British Pakistani boy named Ali, 14, sent to the US from London by his mother, who hopes to soon follow him to Atlanta with his sister. Ali is  living with the honorary Auntie and Uncle of the Mirza sisters.

The novel is narrated by Jameela, 13 and an aspiring writer and author of a family newsletter called Mirza Memos and hoping to be the new Editor of the school newspaper. The story begins on Eid, and Jam, sisters Aleeza, 10, Bisma, 11, and Maryam, 15, are upset at the news that their father won't be there for the first time. Baba had recently lost his contract job at the Center for Disease Control and was in Maryland for an interview.

The good news for the family is that Baba does get a job - the family really needs the income, but it's setting up a hospital in Abu Dhabi, meaning he will have to live there for the length of his contract. The not-so-good news for Jam is that she's named Features Editor of the school paper, and her nemesis Travis is named Editor. Jam has always wanted to be an awarding winning journalist like her dada was, hoping to make her own father as proud of her as he was of his father. Since Jam and Ali are in the same school, she decides to do a interview with him for the paper. It's a great piece, within from a particular point of view, but using some off-the-record comments Ali made to her in confidence. Jam has to rewrite the article, leaving out those comments, but when the first article is inadvertently published, she has some hard lessons to learn about journalism and ethics. And now, Ali won't return her apology text messages.

Meanwhile, Bisma, who shares a room with Jameela, begins complaining of a lump in her neck. When it's diagnosed as leukemia, the family really pulls together while she is undergoing treatment. Not knowing what to do about Bisma, Jam sets up a blog on the CaringBridge website, enabling her to "keep a [private] journal, get comments from people who follow you, organize help with meals and rides and more." (pg 191) Slowly, Jam realizes that perhaps winning awards isn't as important as recording her sister's "journey to life" (pg 238) and subsequently making a difference for kids with cancer.

Oh, I just loved reading More to the Story. I loved the parallels to Little Women, so much came back to me despite not having read it since about 4th grade. But more importantly, I loved the differences, beginning with the wonderful close-knit Mirza family and Jam as a deliciously flawed protagonist. Yet, despite the trouble it causes, her article,  for the school paper, especially, has something to teach us all about how important our words are: "...[kids']words can make as much of a difference as adults' do - if we can get an audience that's bigger than our teachers and parents." (pg. 89) Now, that audience would be the young readers discovering this wonderful novel.

So what was Jam's article about. Well, it was called "Pardon Me? What Did You Say?" and it was about microaggressions, and although that wasn't the main part of the novel, it was a very important part. First of all, how often do you see the word microaggression in a middle grade novel? Not often, perhaps not often enough. Jam's article does make a difference, even nemesis Travis admits he had never heard the word. But the most important take-away is this - microaggressions hurt, or to quote Jam's friend Thu: "People say things that I guess are microaggressions about being Asian that really hurt sometimes." (pg. 116) And as Jam learns, words can hurt as much as they can heal.

More to the Story is an excellent choice for readers who like diverse stories and family stories all rolled up in a well-crafted novel.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Salaam Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle. 

Amina's Voice by Hena Khan

Amina Khokar, a Pakistani American Muslim girl living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has just started sixth grade in middle school and already she is wishing she were back in elementary school. Everything feels different. To begin with, her best friend, Korean-born Soojin Park is about to become a citizen and is thinking about changing her Korean name for something more American. And no sooner has school begun, but Soojin begins to hang out with Emily. Emily had been friends with Julie, and the two of them used to make fun of Soojin and Amina in elementary school. While Soojin seems to accept Emily, Amina is have a lot of difficulty with her hanging around with them. It doesn't take long for a misunderstanding between Soojin and Amina to make them stop speaking.

To add to Amina's stress, she is told that her great uncle is coming for a three month visit from Pakistan, and Thaya Jaan is a very strict Muslim. What will he think of their American ways, and the music Amina loves to play on the piano? It doesn't take long to find out when Amina overhears a conversation between her father and uncle, who tells him that music is forbidden on Islam, and she should be focusing on memorizing Quran.

Meanwhile, older brother Mustafa has been acting up, his grades went way down in middle school and all he seems interested in is texting his friends or watching TV.Now in high school, Mustafa wants to try out for the basketball team, much to his parents chagrin. Mama and Baba have definite ideas about what their children's accomplishments should be and basketball isn't one of them.

But the Quran recitation competition to be held at their Islamic Center is exactly what Mama and Baba have in mind for Amina and Mustafa, and should please Thaya Jaan, who is quite knowledgeable of the Quran and willing to help his niece and nephew practice their Urdu pronunciation.

There's only one problem - Amina can't speak in public, she simply freezes up. Which is a shame, considering that she plays the piano so well, has perfect pitch, a beautiful singing voice and more than anything wants to perform in public.

Amina already has a lot on her plate but when vandals destroys her beloved Islamic Center, she learns to true meaning of family, friendship, and community. When the Park's Presbyterian church offers to hold the Quran competition and the Islamic Center's annual carnival, will Amina be able to find her voice and recite the surah (chapter) she had chosen from the Quran for the competition?

Amina's Voice is one of the first novels to come out of the new Simon & Schuster imprint Salaam Reads. I found it to be timely, interesting and a charming coming of age story. Khan has seamlessly incorporated aspects of Amina's life as a young Pakistani American Muslim girl living in a mostly white community. Her family is loving, supportive, and warm, though her brother a little rebellious, after all, he is a teen. Even the strict uncle is not an unmovable, judgmental force that one meets so often in novels where religion plays a major part in everyday life. He is actually quite warm and loving as well. All this makes the novel a very believable and very relatable story that readers who are not Muslim can also relate to, especially those who go to Sunday School in church where there were lots of family activities to bring people together (I still love a good potluck supper).

Khan has given Amina a really genuine voice, always reflective of her age, her circumstances, and her emotions. She is, however, a nicely flawed middle grader. Her problems don't just revolve around her religion, but also her friends and especially her difficulty in accepting Emily, and her jealousy when she sees Soojin and Emily growing closer and dealing with her feelings of being left out.

I can't recommend Amina's Voice highly enough and I can't wait to see what the future holds for the Salaam Reads imprint.

Amina's Voice will be available on March 14, 2017

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is a weekly event hosted by Shannon Messenger at Book Ramblings, and Plenty of Shenanigans