  | Wishing upon the same stars Author: Feldman, Jacquetta Nammar | |
| Price: $22.38 | ||
Summary:
Twelve-year-old Yasmeen Khoury is unhappy that her family has moved from Detroit to San Antonio, Texas, leaving her friends and Arab Christian community behind; from the very first day at school Yasmeen feels completely isolated and out of place, but she slowly makes friends with a Mexican boy, Carlos, and her Jewish neighbor, Ayelet Cohen, although she feels like she has to hide these friendships, especially from her Palestinian father, a native of Jerusalem.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 5.40 Points: 11.0 Quiz: 514139 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (12/01/21)
School Library Journal (01/01/22)
Booklist (01/01/22)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 01/01/2022 Gr 5 Up—The Isreali-Palestinian conflict takes center stage in this middle grade novel. Yasmeen Khoury, an Arab American girl living in Detroit, Michigan, is devastated to hear she and her family will be moving to Texas. Yasmeen is used to her life in Michigan where there are many Arab American families; she has a lot of concerns about her new home, but her biggest worry is fitting in at school. As she feared, Yasmeen feels different and out of place in most of her classes, but she is soon invited to an after-school club called Math Lab. While she is excited about the club, she is worried her parents won't allow her to join: the coach of the club is Mr. Cohen, the father of the Israeli family across the street. Meanwhile, Yasmeen's dad watches the conflict growing worse in Israel, and Yasmeen is finding a new friend in Mr. Cohen's daughter, Ayelet. Can Yasmeen's family and the Cohens get along? Many readers will see themselves in Feldman's debut novel. Yasmeen's thoughts and actions feel authentic, and the friendship between her and Ayelet unfolds hesitantly, as would be expected. The information, thoughts, and feelings relating to the conflict are expertly done, especially for upper elementary readers. At times the plot feels a bit long, as it covers Yasmeen's entire first year in Texas, but readers will likely enjoy her journey. VERDICT This valuable title explores an issue rarely discussed in contemporary children's literature. Highly recommended for middle grade collections.—Lisa Buffi - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 01/01/2022 After her Palestinian Lebanese family makes the monumental decision to leave their close-knit Detroit Arab community for a job opportunity in San Antonio, Yasmeen finds herself the target of racist remarks and skeptical classmates. Adding to that tension, her grandmother joins them after her own home is demolished by Israelis, and their friendly new neighbors turn out to be Jewish Israeli Americans. Though Yasmeen is drawn to their daughter, she knows that her parents will never approve, so she yearns to bridge that gap, build peace between the families, and find her place in a strange new world. This absorbing story compassionately tackles challenging subjects: immigration, explicit racism, family strife, and the enormity of Palestinian–Israeli history. A simple introduction to the complicated conflict discusses the backgrounds of both sides, along with the difficulty of combining long familial history with newer American citizenship. Feldman strikes a balance by bringing her own experiences to the story and offering an ultimately optimistic message of hope and a chance for peace in ways both big and small. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.
