Bhai for Now by Maleeha Siddiqui
Scholastic
A fresh and fun new spin on the Parent-Trap story, by Indies Introduce author Maleeha Siddiqui
Ashar is busy with the ice hockey team, studying to get into the best school, and hanging out with his friends.
Shaheer and his father are always moving, following his dad’s jobs. Shaheer has given up hope of finding a place where he can put down roots, a place that feels like home.
The two boys have nothing in common.
But when they meet on Shaheer’s first day at his new school, it’s like looking in a mirror.
They quickly figure out that they’re twins, separated as babies. And they are determined to do whatever it takes—including secretly switching identities—to get to know the parent they’ve been separated from.
This is the story of two long-lost brothers who, while they might not like each other, just might need each other.
Bhai for Now is by turns heartwarming and hilarious, and with a unforgettable Muslim family and friendship story at its core.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
Kitten Chaos (Must Love Pets #2) by Saadia Faruqi
Scholastic
A young middle grade series that combines the heart and friendship of the Baby-sitters Club, with the irresistible appeal of adorable animals!
The fur is going to fly!
Must Love Pets has a new job: pet sitting three adorable kittens. What Imaan, London, and Olivia don’t expect is all the trouble these tiny creatures can get into, from climbing up the curtains, to chewing Amir’s favorite book and tearing up Mama’s work papers.
To get out of the house—and out of Mama’s hair—the girls take the kittens to a local farmers market. There, they meet the world’s cutest goat, and the kittens have a ball. At the end of a busy day as fabulous pet sitters, the girls are relaxing back at Imaan’s house when they realize two things: The goat has followed them home, and the kittens are nowhere to be found. They’ll have to solve two animal emergencies before anyone finds out!
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks
Quill Tree / HarperCollins
Wolf Hollow meets The Thing About Jellyfish in Danielle Binks’s debut middle grade novel set in 1999, where a twelve-year-old girl grapples with the meaning of home and family amidst a refugee crisis that has divided her town.
If you asked Fred to draw a map of her family, it would be a bit confusing. Her birth father was never in the picture, her mom died years ago, and her stepfather, Luca, is now expecting a baby with his new girlfriend. According to Fred’s teacher, maps don’t always give the full picture of our history, but more and more it feels like Fred’s family is redrawing the line of their story . . . and Fred is left feeling off the map.
Soon after learning about the baby, Fred hears that the town will be taking in hundreds of refugees seeking safety from war-torn Kosovo. Some people in town, like Luca, think it’s great and want to help. Others, however, feel differently, causing friction within the community. Fred, who has been trying to navigate her own feelings of displacement, ends up befriending a few refugees. But what starts as a few friendly words in Albanian will soon change their lives forever, not to mention completely redraw Fred’s personal map of friends, family, home, and community.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
Turtle of Michigan
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Greenwillow / HarperCollins
The stand-alone companion to National Book Award Finalist and beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s The Turtle of Oman. The Turtle of Michigan is a deft and accessible novel that follows a young boy named Aref as he travels from Muscat, Oman, to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and adjusts to a new life and a new school in the United States. A wonderful pick for young middle grade readers and fans of Other Words for Home and Billy Miller Makes a Wish.
Aref is excited for his journey to reunite with his father in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Aref makes a friend on an airplane, wonders what Michigan will be like, and starts school in the United States. While he does miss his grandfather, his Sidi, Aref knows that his home in Oman will always be waiting for him.
Award-winning author Naomi Shihab Nye’s highly anticipated sequel to The Turtle of Oman explores immigration, family, and what it means to feel at home. Carrying a suitcase and memories of his home in Oman, Aref experiences the excitement and nervousness that accompanies moving to a new home. The Turtle of Michigan is a great choice for reading aloud and a must-have for younger middle grade readers.
Illustrated in black-and-white throughout.
Summary and cover image via Edelweiss
Against All Odds: Girls Rock : Indonesia
Claudia Bellante, illustrated by Josefina Schargorodsky
Interlink
Three girls in Indonesia discover their passion for heavy metal music in this brand new picture book series
In a small village in Java, Indonesia three young Muslim girls begin to explore their passion for heavy metal music after watching a Metallica concert on Youtube. They worry about what their parents, friends—and even their Imam—will think about their new interest but they persevere anyway, finding new meaning in their lives and new ways to connect to their religion.
The stories told in the Against All Odds collection are true stories of brave boys and girls from different parts of the world, who, with their small everyday actions, beat the odds and achieve something great.
Summary and cover image via Edelweiss
Golden Girl
Reem Faruqi
HarperCollins
From the award winning author of Unsettled, comes her second magical middle grade novel in verse about seventh grader Aafiyah, a Pakistani American girl. This book is about her coming-of-age trials as her habit of “borrowing” glittery things overshadows otherwise good intentions, ultimately betraying her best friend and thwarting her plan to help her family in the process. This heartfelt, soul-searching story is perfect for fans of The Thing About Jellyfish and Clean Getaway.
Award-winning author Reem Faruqi delivers a powerful and relatable story that will leave readers with laughter, hope, and lessons learned. This middle grade novel in verse tackles difficult topics in a poignant way, and is infused with humor and family dynamics.
Seventh grader Aafiyah Qamar loves playing tennis, reading weird-but-true facts, and hanging out with her best friend, Zaina. However, Aafiyah has a bad habit that troubles her—she’s drawn to pretty things and can’t help but occasionally “borrow” them.
But when her father is falsely accused of a crime he hasn’t committed and gets taken in by authorities, Aafiyah knows she knows she needs to do something to help. When she brainstorms a way to bring her father back, she turns to her weird-but-true facts and devises the perfect plan.
But what if her plan means giving in to her bad habit, the one she’s been trying to stop? Aafiyah wants to reunite her family, but finds that maybe her plan isn’t so perfect after all.
Zara’s Rules for Finding Hidden Treasure
by Hena Khan, illustrated by Wastana Haikal
Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster
From the beloved author of Amina’s Voice comes the second book in the delightful Zara’s Rules middle grade series following Zara as she starts her own business!
Zara lives for bike rides with her friends—so when her shiny, brand-new bike goes missing from the park one day, she’s crushed. After her parents insist she earn the money for another one herself, Zara’s determined to start a business. But what kind? A lemonade stand? Not profitable enough. Selling painted rocks? Not enough customers.
Zara’s starting to get discouraged when she and her friend Naomi finally come up with the perfect idea: The Treasure Wagon, a roving garage sale that unloads knickknacks from the Saleem family basement and makes money all at once! But when a mix-up gets Zara in hot water again, will she have to give up everything she’s earned toward her new bike?
Summary and cover image via Edelweiss
Omar Rising
by Aisha Saeed
Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin Random House
“Irresistibly appealing and genuinely inspiring—a story that helps us to see the world more clearly, and to see ourselves as powerful enough to change it.” —Rebecca Stead, author of Newbery Award Winner When You Reach Me
In this compelling companion to New York Times bestseller Amal Unbound, Amal’s friend Omar must contend with being treated like a second-class citizen when he gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school.
Omar knows his scholarship to Ghalib Academy Boarding School is a game changer, providing him—the son of a servant—with an opportunity to improve his station in life. He can’t wait to experience all the school has to offer, especially science club and hopefully the soccer team; but when he arrives, his hopes are dashed. First-year scholarship students aren’t allowed to join clubs or teams—and not only that, they have to earn their keep doing menial chores. At first Omar is dejected—but then he gets angry when he learns something even worse—the school deliberately “weeds out” kids like him by requiring them to get significantly higher grades than kids who can pay tuition, making it nearly impossible for scholarship students to graduate. It’s a good thing that in his favorite class, he’s learned the importance of being stubbornly optimistic. So with the help of his tight knit new group of friends—and with the threat of expulsion looming over him—he sets out to do what seems impossible: change a rigged system.
Summary and cover image via Edelweiss
Calling the Moon: 16 Period Stories from BIPOC Authors
Edited by Aida Salazar and Yamile Saied Mendez
Candlewick
An essential, highly relatable collection of short fiction and poems around the topic of menstruation, written exclusively by authors who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color
For Angela, it came on the basketball court—while playing on the boys’ team. For Penny, it came on a school field trip to the lake (making for some cringeworthy moments of humor). And to Layla’s disappointment, it came at the start of her first fasting Ramadan, meaning that she won’t be able to fast after all. Whether it spurs silence or celebration, whether the subjects are well prepared or totally in the dark, the young people in these sixteen stories find that getting a period not only brings change to their bodies, it also brings joy, sorrow, self-discovery, and yes, sometimes even gifts.
Edited by Aida Salazar and Yamile Saied Méndez and featuring BIPOC contributors who are some of the most talented authors in middle-grade fiction today—including two-time 2021 Newbery Honoree Christina Soontornvat, Erin Entrada Kelly, Ibi Zoboi, and Saadia Faruqi—My New Gift offers coming-of-age stories and poetry ranging from funny to heartbreaking to powerful, all of them reassuring readers that they are not alone in their period journey.
With contributions by:
Hilda Eunice Burgos
Veeda Bybee
Susan Muaddi Darraj
Saadia Faruqi
Nikki Grimes
Leah Henderson
Mason J.
Erin Entrada Kelly
Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Elise McMullen-Ciotti
Yamile Saied Méndez
Emma Otheguy
Aida Salazar
Christina Soontornvat
Padma Venkatraman
Ibi Zoboi
Summary via Edelweiss, cover image (TBR)
This review was originally published in School Library Journal.
Samira Surfs
by Rukhsanna Guidroz & illus. by Fahmida Azim
Kokila. Jun. 2021. 288p. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781984816191.
Gr 4-8–It’s been three months since 11-year-old Samira and her family fled persecution in their homeland of Burma; three months since they paid a man to board a boat to cross the Naf River, seeking safety and a better life in Bangladesh; and three months since that same river swallowed her grandparents alive and dragged them to the bottom of the sea. In Bangladesh, Samira and her family do their best to make a life as unregistered refugees living outside of the refugee camps: Samira sells hard-boiled eggs along the beach to tourists; her brother cleans dishes and tables at a local café, and her father performs grueling work on shrimping boats. As refugees, they face resentment, suspicion, and threats of violence by some members of the local Bengali population, who view them as competition for scarce resources. Meanwhile, Samira struggles to pursue her own dreams, which conflict with her parents’ cultural expectations. New friendships along the beach offer community and the opportunity to surf, an activity that gives Samira freedom and the chance to face and overcome her fears. Written in verse, this well-paced novel weaves Burmese history and the plight of the Rohingya, a persecuted predominately Muslim ethnic minority. Characters are multidimensional and are portrayed with nuance and empathy. Illustrations offer additional texture and help bring the plot to life. Although this is a work of fiction, it will hopefully inspire readers to learn more about the “surfer girls of Bangladesh,” the Rohingya people, and Southeast Asian history.
VERDICT A compelling novel that spotlights the history and contemporary circumstances of the Rohingya while tackling universal themes of friendship, belonging, and identity. Pair with other works about trailblazing young women, such as Julie Abery’s Yusra Swims or a biography of Malala Yousafzai.