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Amina's Voice, Book 1
By Jan Carr,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Beautiful tale of Pakistani American middle-schooler.
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What's the Story?
In AMINA'S VOICE, Amina, who's Pakistani American, and her best friend, Soojin, from a Korean family, are starting sixth grade in a Milwaukee suburb. The two suffer the occasional taunt from their classmates ("Speak English. You're in America") but are in the full swing of American middle school life. They prepare for the upcoming choral concert and navigate friendship troubles and jealousy when another girl, formerly with the mean crowd, wants to befriend them. Amina also has a busy life with her Muslim community at their vibrant Islamic Center and wonders how to balance that culture when her uncle, who's from Pakistan and stricter, comes to stay with them for a month. Will her parents let her brother join the basketball team? And does Islam really frown on her love of music and singing? When the center becomes the target of vandalism and arson, the larger community rises to support their Muslim neighbors.
Is It Any Good?
This beautifully written, pitch-perfect novel expertly balances the narrator's typical American middle school life in Milwaukee with the specifics of her Muslim, Pakistani American culture. The parents in Amina's Voice are naturalized citizens, and the family is American in many ways. Amina watches The Voice, her brother plays basketball and video games, and her mom cross-country skis during snowstorms. Amina's narrative is colloquial, sprinkled with current kid-isms such as "random" and "super chatty," so she seems eminently relatable, and author Hena Khan writes with warmth and emotional honesty.
Khan weaves in details about Amina's culture and faith in just the right measure, familiarizing readers with the names of the clothes she wears (shalwar kameez), the food she eats (samosas), the names of her family and friends (Mustafa, Rabiya), and details about the family's life at the vibrant Islamic Center. They study "surahs" (chapters) from the Quran but also plan a fundraiser with a bounce house and a dunk tank (for dunk-the-imam). Khan focuses instead on how the hate crime affects the Islamic community and the response of their neighbors, which is overwhelmingly supportive. Kids looking to expand their understanding of Muslims and the experience of immigrant families could not do better than this sensitively written book.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the vandalism of the Islamic Center in Amina's Voice. Has anything like that happened in your community? How does the community in the book respond? How do you think you and your community would respond?
How are Amina's school and family and friendship experiences similar to yours? How are they distinct from yours?
What hurtful things do the other middle school kids say to Amina and Soojin? Which do they say to be mean and which do they say out of ignorance?
Book Details
- Author: Hena Khan
- Genre: Contemporary Fiction
- Topics: Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , Great Girl Role Models , Middle School
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Salaam Reads
- Publication date: March 14, 2017
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 208
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: September 13, 2021
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