Tag Archives: Pakistan

Review: Amina’s Song by Hena Khan

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Amina's Song by Hena Khan

Amina’s Song
Hena Khan
Simon & Schuster / Salaam Reads
Published March 9, 2021

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Amina’s Song

It’s the last few days of her vacation in Pakistan, and Amina has loved every minute of it. The food, the shops, the time she’s spent with her family—all of it holds a special place in Amina’s heart. Now that the school year is starting again, she’s sad to leave, but also excited to share the wonders of Pakistan with her friends back in Greendale.

After she’s home, though, her friends don’t seem overly interested in her trip. And when she decides to do a presentation on Pakistani hero Malala Yousafzai, her classmates focus on the worst parts of the story. How can Amina share the beauty of Pakistan when no one wants to listen?

In the companion novel to the beloved and award-winning AMINA’S VOICE, Amina once again uses her voice to bridge the places, people, and communities she loves—this time across continents.

My Review

I read AMINA’S SONG at the perfect time– just when I needed a warm, fun story of community and family and belonging. I loved the chapters showing Amina with her family in Pakistan. The descriptions of the market, the rooftop, and the food all made those scenes come to life. I also loved Amina’s relationship with her cousin Zohra and her uncle.

I also loved the way the story followed her faith and her connection with her mosque and the ways she and others sought to help refugees who had just come to America. That generosity and welcoming warmth was really sweet.

As with AMINA’S VOICE, this story also focuses on Amina’s internal journey. She feels caught between her love for America and Pakistan and at a loss for how to explain and show that love to the people in her life on each side. I love that her path led her to compose her own music and challenged her to find ways to speak up, both in her class project about Malala and in her friendships.

All in all, I’d say this book is another winner. It’s got a strong faith-positive message, and a beautiful celebration of community as well as a thoughtful, brave heroine in Amina. Readers who enjoy multicultural stories or are looking for books that celebrate community will definitely want this one on their shelves.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Amina’s family are Pakinstani-American Muslims. The first part of the book takes places in Lahore, Pakistan, where Amina is visiting her family.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Amina makes friends with a boy at school and her friends tease her about being romantically interested. She is not allowed to date, and believes she wants to simply be friends with Nico.

Spiritual Content
Amina and her family are Muslims. She talks about reading the Quran and spending time in prayer. She’s also involved with continued fundraising to rebuild the mosque her family attends after it was vandalized a year earlier.

Violent Content
Amina learns about Malala and briefly discusses that she was shot in the head by the Taliban. She tells her cousin she was afraid to come to Pakistan because of the stories of violence she’d heard on the news. Her cousins in Pakistan worry that Amina and her brother could be shot, since they see reports of school shootings in the news so often.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of AMINA’S SONG in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

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I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Malala Yousafzai
with Christina Lamb
Little, Brown and Company
Published on October 8, 2013

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About I am Malala

I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls’ education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

My Review

I’ve been curious about this book for the longest time, and finally I ordered an audiobook copy (I think I saw it on one of Audible’s most recommended books lists or something) and listened to it.

Before reading I Am Malala I hadn’t realized how active she was in speaking out about girls being allowed an education and how she and her family risked so much in order to continue educating young women in Swat in Pakistan.

The story not only gives a great sense of the political and social atmosphere around Malala and her family but also shows her as a girl—someone who enjoys playing with her friends, looks forward to holidays, is thinking about her future, etc.

She’s a devout Muslim, yet also devoted to the rights of girls and women, and she never feels that those two important parts of her life are at odds. Sometimes she explains why the Taliban leaders have certain positions (like their wish for women to remain at home, inside all the time), and why she disagrees with them.

I really want to listen to the book a second time. It might have been easier to read it as an e-book or physical copy. I had a hard time sometimes with keeping the names of places and characters straight. Having the print version would have made this easier for me I think, since so many names were unfamiliar to me.

I couldn’t help but be in awe of this young girl and her courage, though. I really enjoyed the story and it gave me a better understanding of what happened in Pakistan before and after Bin Laden was killed.

Looking back, I kind of wish I had read the young reader’s version of this book so I could recommend it, but this version would probably be okay for most middle and high school readers.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Malala and her family are Pakistan and Muslim.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
At one point Malala hears that some boys have crushes on her and are waiting for her outside her house. She tells them to go away. (Partly she’s concerned about getting in trouble if anyone suggests she was flirting with them, which she wasn’t.)

Spiritual Content
Malala and her family, her mom especially, pray verses from the Koran in times of distress and trouble. She discusses the difference between what the Koran says about the behavior of women versus what the Taliban demand in terms of rules about women.

Violent Content
Malala survives flooding and an earthquake. She describes hearing bombs exploding and gunfire. At one point, a man boards the van she’s riding in and shoots her in the head. He also shoots a friend of hers in the shoulder. A bullet grazes a third girl.

Drug Content
None.