I hope you liked my previous book review of “Golden Girl” by Reem Faruqi. As you might know, this is the month of Ramadan. I wish all the people who celebrate Ramadan Mubarak. Today I have this new book Barakah Beats, the debut novel of Pakistani-American author Maleeha Siddiqui.
Nimra Sharif, a twelve-year-old, was homeschooled growing up and then went to a private Islamic school where she learned about the holy book Quran. She later becomes a Hafiza which means she has completely memorized words from the Quran. (Meaning of Hafiza is ‘Keeper of the sacred book’).
Nimra’s parents decide to send her to a public middle school where her very best friend Jenna Birdie goes. But when she goes to middle school, she faces challenges as her friend Jenna starts ignoring her, and it is hard to make friends. She wears a hijab/ headscarf, and she feels different from Jenna and her friends. They all play volleyball, have an interest in sports, and talk about boys. However, things change when Nimra meets Waleed, Bilal, and Matthew. They are Muslim boys from eighth grade who are a part of a band called Barakah Beats. They accidentally meet her in the room where she was praying and singing a prayer. They recommend that she should join their band. Nimra hesitates for a while as music is forbidden in Islam. She wants to follow the rules of her faith, but with the persuasion of the band, Jenna and her new friend Khadijah, she joins the band and records songs off of Soundcloud. It is a secret which means she has to lie to her family and makes her friendship with Jenna awkward. She gets closer with the band and practices with them every lunch period. She is the lead singer and decides to join the band. To make things worse, Nimra feels guilty for hiding the truth from her parents. She worries about disappointing them. She thinks about dropping out, but it’s too late, Barakah Beats’s new song comes out with Nimra in the lead, and everyone at school says it’s a hit. Instead of getting better, things get worse at school as the girls think that Nimra likes the boys. Nimra deals with inner conflict because of her strong faith and musical talent. Things get worse when the band is invited to perform fundraising for refugees. How does she get out of this mess? Will she leave the band or stay? What will her parents say when the truth comes out? Read this book to find out.
I really enjoyed this book as it is easy to read, and it made more sense to me as a middle schooler. I liked the humor and sarcasm that the author used in her writing. I really liked how diverse this book was, including all different cultures and especially foreshadowing, unlike many books. I learned a lot about Muslim culture and faith.
It covers themes like family, friendship, faith, fitting in, teamwork, and being true to yourself.
If you want to read this book, you can get it at your local library, Amazon, or audiobook.