#RamadanReadathon Wrap-up [MG and YA Reviews]

🍂 Q&A @ PW 🍂 Review by Sara @ Hijabi Librarians 🍂 Review by Fadwa @ Word Wonders

• 12 years old Amal, growing up in a Pakistani village, has just begun to realize that society places less value on girls than boys. She is the standard contemporary middle grade character with dreams and ambitions supposedly beyond her station. When her father asks her what she needs to know beyond reading and writing, she responds “What more did I need to know? The whole world, Abu, the whole world.” (19%)
• Amal casually highlights, through her observations and comments, aspects of her life that differ from an American lifestyle, without catering to white readers. (As an American publisher put out the book, I assume most readers are American.)
  • Ex. “Lubna lay swaddled tightly, fast asleep. It’s what I was calling the new baby, though it wasn’t officially her name. My mother didn’t name us until we were a year old and she knew for sure we would survive.” (21%)
• After a run-in with Jawad, who has an even worse reputation than his father (the village’s landlord), Amal is forced to work off her father’s debt as an indentured servant in Jawad’s household.
  • “You hit me with your car and want to take my things?” My voice trembled; I heard it growing louder, as if it were coming from someone else. “I’m not giving it away.” I snatched it from his hand. (26%)
• Amal’s experience highlights power imbalances reinforced by police corruption and cyclical debt. As Amal’s friend Nabila (who has been indentured to Jawad for far longer than Amal) notes, “We work off our debts by working here, but the food we eat, the sheets on our bed, and the roof over our head are all accounted for and piling upon the original debt” (54%).
• Amal recognizes the injustices of the world around her and chooses to push back. Despite ‘only’ being one young girl trapped in servitude, she knows there are ways she can aim for change.
  • “But I knew I had to try. If everyone decided nothing could change, nothing ever would.” (88%)
• Saeed writes in her author’s note that Amal Unbound was inspired by Malala Yousafzi as well as young people around the world who fight for what they believe in, “in often unrecognized but important ways”, even though most won’t get Malala’s happy ending. Saeed also wanted to draw attention to indentured servitude. She does note that most have much more difficult situations than Amal.
• Amal Unbound may be 240 pages, but it’s a short 240 pages. I read it in one 90 minute sitting.
• 💭 The Bottom Line: A little heartbreaking (though not as much as I anticipated), Amal Unbound offers a hopeful look at the change young girls can make in the world.

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🍂 Review by Jaclyn @ Centered on Books🍂 SLJ review 

• A suicide bomber leaves Obayda’s father unable to work, forcing Obayda’s family to leave their home in Kabul for her father’s home village “in the middle of nowhere” (9%). 10 year old Obayda has three sisters and no brothers, with another sibling on the way. At the encouragement of Obayda’s aunt, Obayda’s mother decides Obayda will now live as a boy, Obayd, in the Afghani practice of the bacha posh.
  • “A boy can work and earn money. A boy is good luck. A boy brings other boys into the family. Girls can’t do any of those things. You’re not in Kabul anymore, my dear.” (12%)
• As someone who reads more stories about gender identity and expression than about girls growing up in Islamic republics, I had to continually adjust my reception of Obayda’s story. One Half from the East is not really about Obayda and Rahim exploring identities as trans boys. It’s about cultural expectations and gender inequality.
  • That being said, there is a brief discussion between Obayda and her sisters towards the end about what makes a boy a boy.
• One Half from the East is a slice of life narrative. Readers follow Obayda’s new experiences living as Obayd, and her relationship with fellow bacha posh Rahima.
• Hashimi’s author note provides further context on the experience of girls and women in Afghanistan, and the role of the bacha posh.
• 💭 The Bottom Line: One Half from the East offers a thoughtful and moving look into the life of a young girl heavily impacted by the gender expectations of her culture.

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🍂 Q+A @ Scholastic 🍂 Review by Fadwa @ Word Wonders🍂 Review by Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads

• Super condensed one sentence summary: After Rukhsana’s parents catch her kissing her girlfriend, they fly her to Bangladesh to secure her a husband.
• The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali is the most intense book I’ve read in a long time. It is not humorous in any way. It contains no shortage of upsetting scenes. If you have particular triggers, I encourage you to check this book’s content warnings before picking it up.
• It’s also a story so far removed from my own experiences that I actually thought “I can’t review this”. Usually, when I review a book where the main character has an identity/identities different from my own, there’s still a lot for me to talk about beyond the portrayal of their unique experience. But there’s so much going on in this story that is beyond me. Rukhsana’s story is a deeply personal one about a girl at odd with her parents in a way I never have and never will experience.
• GENERAL SPOILER FOR CONCLUSION:That being said, I think I can say: Although the conclusion is perhaps unrealistic or a bit of a stretch, it’s nice to have hope that a family who goes through so much pain and so many terrible experiences can still learn and grow and heal together.
  • .
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  • /spoiler
• I don’t usually comment based on what other reviewers have said, but I’ve seen a lot of reviewers say they found the writing uneven and all over the place, so for the record: I didn’t notice that at all.
• 💭 The Bottom Line: Not sure how to sum this one up. The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali tells a queer Muslim story in a visceral and painful way but isn’t without hope.

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Do you have any kidlit recs by Muslim authors for me?