Perfect Books For Fall Reading
Hello Everyone!
Summer has ended, and fall has arrived. In September, a lot of great books got published, including Born Behind Bars, Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero, and How to Find What You’re Not Looking For. I have previously discussed Born Behind Bars, so now I will share the other two middle-grade books.
Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero
This book is written by the author of A Place At the Table, Saadia Faruqi
A few weeks ago marked the twenty years of 9/11. The terror attack on the World Trade Centre in New York was the worst thing that America had to face. So today, I am sharing with you a book that talks about how 9/11 affected the life of immigrants in America and how it changed the way Muslims were seen. I just finished reading this book called “Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero” by one of my favorite authors, Saadia Faruqi.
Yusuf Azeem is a Pakistani American twelve-year-old boy who lives in Frey, Texas. His mother was born in the United States, while his father was born in Pakistan. The story alternates between 2001 and 2021. In 2021, it is the 20th anniversary of 9/11, but all the hate and racism towards Muslims still continues. Yusuf loves robotics and looks forward to the Robotics club after school. After entering middle school, he starts getting hateful notes in his locker and wonders if everyone has not forgotten 9/11. His maternal uncle gives him his old journal from 2001, where he had written about how 9/11 had changed his life as a Muslim, twelve-year-old kid, especially going through harsh racist encounters. This journal helps Yusuf understand the impact of September 11th on immigrants particularly, Muslims. Throughout the story, Yusuf feels he’s not a hero like his father. His father had bravely talked down a gunman who had come to his store. Soon a group of people protested against the construction of a Mosque in the community. He also realizes that life as a Muslim isn’t as easy as he had thought. At the end of this book, will Yusuf become more confident to stand up for himself? Read to find out. This book is a wonderful middle-grade book that talks about Islamophobia and COVID-19 pandemic. I read it last month as soon as it got published, and I learned a lot about the impact of 9/11.
How To Find What You’re Not Looking For
Veera Hiranandani, a Newberry award-winning author, wrote this book.
Ariel Goldberg is a 12-year-old Jewish American girl living in Connecticut. Her parents own and work at a bakery. Her eighteen-year-old sister Leah tells her a secret. She’s in love with an immigrant Indian boy named Raj. Her parents are strict and don’t want Leah to marry Raj. As a result, she elopes after high school and moves to New York. It happened in 1967 after Loving vs. Virginia decided interracial marriages were constitutional. All of a sudden Ariel’s world falls apart. Her teacher thinks she has a learning disability called dysgraphia. It means she has trouble writing and her handwriting is quite difficult to understand. She still had a talent in poetry. She has a hard time at home as well as at school. She misses her sister and wants to find her. Ariel decides to write her letters, but she never gets a reply from Leah.
What will happen to this family? Will Leah come back? Will they reunite? Read this book to find out.
Fun Facts:
Interestingly this book is written in the second person.
The author also talks about the historic Loving v. Virginia case. I didn’t know about it before I read this book. You must be wondering about what the case was? The case started when Mildred Jeter, a 17-year-old black girl, wanted to marry her white partner, Richard Loving. However, it was illegal at the time to have an interracial marriage. So the couple was charged and jailed. It doesn’t seem fair nowadays, but racism was way worse and blatant back then. They left Washington DC to go to Virginia. They came back five years later and had gotten arrested. Luckily, Mildred wrote a letter to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy for help.
To read these books, please order from your local public library, bookstore or Amazon.