For fans of Other Words for Home and Front Desk, this powerful, charming own voices immigration story follows a girl who moves from Karachi, Pakistan to Peachtree City, Georgia, and must find her footing in a new world. Reem Faruqi is the ALA Notable author of award-winning Lailah's Lunchbox.
When her family moves from Pakistan to Peachtree City, all Nurah wants is to blend in, yet she stands out for all the wrong reasons. Nurah’s accent, floral-print kurtas, and tea-colored skin make her feel excluded, until she meets Stahr at swimming tryouts.
And in the water Nurah doesn’t want to blend in. She wants to win medals like her star athlete brother, Owais—who is going through struggles of his own in the U.S. Yet when sibling rivalry gets in the way, she makes a split-second decision of betrayal that changes their fates.
Ultimately Nurah slowly gains confidence in the form of strong swimming arms, and also gains the courage to stand up to bullies, fight for what she believes in, and find her place.---from the publisher
352 pages 9780063044708 Ages 8-11
Keywords: immigrants, immigration, new experiences, bullies, bullying, prejudice, racism, school, 8 year old, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, empathy, assimilation, colorism, racial profiling, miscarriage, domestic abuse, If You Liked Front Desk
*************** “When President Joe Biden rescinded former President Donald Trump’s ban on immigrant visas from many Muslim-majority countries on his very first day in office, those eagerly awaiting the change were elated...But Biden’s reversal of one of Trump’s signature actions hasn’t resulted in a flood of airport reunions or any quick changes...as...more than 40,000 application...denied due to the bans...are included in what’s become a tremendous immigrant visa backlog.”
-- MSNBC, 3/20/21
“Oh, imagine yourself in a building
Up in flames, being told to stand still
The window’s wide open, this leap is on faith
You don’t know who will catch you, but maybe somebody will.”
-- Sara Bareilles, “A Safe Place to Land” (2019)
“Which Land Is Mine?
In Peachtree City, Georgia,
the trees touch the sky
and the air smells different.
The water tastes different too.
The wind is pure
and free
from exhaust.
Yet the sidewalks are empty.
The roads have only cars.
In Karachi, Pakistan,
the trees are shorter
like me.
The air has whiffs of exhaust
and mango juice is plentiful.
Rickshaws sputter on the roads.
A donkey here or there.
Scooters everywhere.
Sellers of every kind
selling
coconuts
birds in cages
balloons
towels.
They all
gather on the road.
Different melodies
all at once.
Even though their lives
are hard,
they seem free.
Yet America with
its pure air
and people stuck inside
all day
is known as
the land of the free.
Pakistan with
its free people everywhere
and dirty air
is known as
the land of the pure.”
Thirteen-year-old Nurah Haqq is a swimmer, an artist, a math aficionado, and a little sister. When Nurah’s father receives a job offer, their family of four says goodbye to the grandparents in Pakistan, and relocates to Peachtree, Georgia. In this story-in-verse of uprooting and finding one’s place in America, the author employs a gardening metaphor to organize the tale into nine parts: Uprooting, Replanting, Water, Planting Seeds, Sprouting, Rot, Budding, Wilting, and Flowering.
Nurah’s observations and reactions to her early experiences in America include her making friends with the cleaning women at the hotel in which her family initially stay; bullying and worse by her peers; making friends at school; her mother’s suffering a miscarriage; revelations regarding a friend’s abusive father; the supportiveness of a nurturing art teacher; and Nurah’s struggle to excel on a swim team
.
Author Reem Faruqi has drawn upon her own childhood experiences and struggles as a Muslim immigrant to tell Nurah’s story. UNSETTLED, Nurah’s reaction to life in America, has a nice balance: The issues Nurah encounters are well-probed and thought-provoking,, yet the story will be readily accessible to third- and fourth-grade readers.
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, California USA
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