I was intrigued to see this book offered by Scholastic in the teen Reading Club Catalog as it sounded both action packed and cultural. The jacket cover summary was vague in describing the characters as being from an “unnamed Middle Eastern country,” but with the slightly veiled girl on front, I figured they probably are Muslim, and I should at the very least how they/we are being portrayed. The book is 295 pages long and that includes the story, the Author’s Note, and a Truth in Fiction section. The author is a former undercover CIA officer and the intense action, intertwined with cultural understandings, leave the reader second guessing and on the edge until the end. The AR level is 5.1, but with the profanity, sexual situations, and violence I would recommend the book to those in high school and up (15+).
SYNOPSIS:
Fifteen-year-old Laila flees her homeland, when her father, the head of the county, is killed. Trying to fit in, in Washington, D.C. is not easy for a girl raised like a princess. She has to navigate not only the social norms and high school drama that most kids her age do, but she also has to examine what type of ruler her father was and what price her privilege came at. There are a lot of plot twists, and her mother’s efforts to broker deals with rebel fractions and CIA operatives, keep the plot moving forward. The interpersonal relationships in the background give the characters some depth and memorable traits by contrasting the intensity of a country on edge with the daily dramas of daily life. Surprisingly with so much going on, I thought the book was well written, my only major critique being, I wish i knew more about Laila, the main character telling the story.
WHY I LIKE IT:
It’s a fun story, simple as that. The plausible political plot, the young adult characters with their own heightened sense of self worth, is well crafted by-in-large and the book was engaging. I read it quickly because I wanted to see how it unraveled and it kept my interest. Will I remember it a month from now? Probably not, but often books like this as YA or adult fiction are delicious empty calories and nothing more-or-less than that.
FLAGS:
The “royal” family is “Muslim.” Yes, the quotes are intentional, because they don’t identify as Muslim, yet those in America identify them as such. A teacher asks her if she is ok with dissecting a fetal pig and she seems confused as to why that would be a problem. A boyfriend is nervous to make a move, and again she seems taken aback that there would be a religious reason not to, as she sees it as a cultural one only. Even at the end when she is discussing going back to her country her mother remarks that she hates wearing a veil and Leila says she never really minded it. Laila’s mom drinks alcohol and always has, as many heads-of-states of Muslim countries are assumed to do. There is violence, some crude language, and some relationship situations. Again I would not recommend it for younger teens.
One aspect that is worth noting is how the “bad guy,” Laila’s uncle, is painted as being “religious.” I would hope that readers would realize that he is an extremist, an exception to the mainstream followers of Islam. But I don’t know if they would. He is harshly critical of how Laila and her mom dress calling them “whores,” he uses religion as a means of power to oppress and condemn others and is just generally awful. I think the author by largely leaving religion and the name of the country out of the book, isn’t making a judgement on the faith or region, as much as providing plausible pieces to craft an interesting story. That is just my opinion though, and it could probably be changed.
TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:
I wouldn’t teach this book, or use it for Book Club, but the supplemental information in the back of the book is definitely interesting, and I think among friends, good discussions about the story’s origins would be fruitful, speculative and engaging.
In a high school setting you could definitely connect it to a Social Studies unit or the Arab Spring.
This beautiful, beautiful book tells of a little and sparsely known event in history. During the holocaust The Grand Mosque of Paris served as a place of refuge for many North African Jews. Many who passed through the vast gardens and beautiful Mosque were given fake documents of conversion, tombstones with their family names inscribed, and access to truly underground passageways (subterranean mazes), as the Muslims of Paris offered assistance to keep their Jewish brother’s and sister’s safe from the Nazi regime. Many of the stories were recently uncovered and with the passage of time, so much of the information has been lost. As a result the book is a bit choppy, each page tells what is known about the Muslims’ assistance in some capacity, but does not flow to the next page. So there are generalized recountings of children being hidden with other families, the efforts of the Kabyle Ressistance (Berbers from Algeria) to smuggle Jews to safety, etc.. There are also a few specific examples of Salim Halali, a young Berber Jew from Algeria, two friends one a Muslim the other a Jew seeking shelter, a Tunisian Jew who stayed at the Mosque for over two years,and a few others, but with the exception of the use of the Grand Mosque and a Doctor Ahmed Somia very little flows throughout the book. Thus making it more of a historical account than a story.
The real treat of the book however, is how it all comes together: the words, pictures, sentence structure, font, size, and diction all compliment each other on the same level. I read a lot of books aloud as a children’s librarian, and while the rhyming ones are great for the littlest listeners, there is often a void of read-out-loud stories for the kindergarten and first grade levels. And I am talking about all books, not just Islamic ones. Most picture books in my experience are written on a third grade level, with longer blocks of texts, smaller fonts, a wider range of vocabulary and longer sentences. These books are often beautiful and very tempting, however when I read them during story time I end up “summarizing” them, and telling the story rather than reading it. Similarly, early readers often find them frustrating and too difficult to read independently. Bismillah Soup strikes a wonderful balance, mashaAllah.
Islamic School Librarian 