LIFE IS NOT FAIR, IS IT?
What would you do, if your ordinary, mundane life took away from you? In just one day, everything suddenly changed. You lost your family, friends, your life. Just like Amal.
Hello, friends! Welcome to my space. This time I'm going to talk about a middle grade book that would change the way you see the world, Amal Unbound.
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Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Synopsis:
The compelling story of a girl’s fight to regain her life and dreams after being forced into indentured servitude.
Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she’s busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when–as the eldest daughter–she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but she doesn’t lose hope and finds ways to continue learning. Then the unimaginable happens–after an accidental run-in with the son of her village’s corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family’s servant to pay off her own family’s debt.
Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of heartbreak and struggle for Amal–especially when she inadvertently makes an enemy of a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though, is Amal’s growing awareness of the Khans’ nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.
My rating: ★★★★★
This story is about Amal, who has her world turned upside down after she talks back to a village's Landlord. She has to leave her family, home, and school to be a servant in the Landlord's house. Later, she finds out that she is not the only child who becomes the servant there. Some of them are the same age as her, there are also older and younger children. Each of them has their own story. Amal does her best to help them. To end this servitude once and for all.
"Why did it take leaving my ordinary life behind to appreciate how precious it truly was?"
I really enjoyed this book. It opened my eyes to some issues in another country, in this case Pakistan. This book is set in a poor village in Pakistan and talks a lot about the culture and some big issues there, such as gender inequality, social status, and education. For example, girls are not obligated to learn to write and read because they will end up in the kitchen anyway, and there are also some scenes where the villagers take pity on her parents because her mother giving birth to another baby girl.
"Sometimes I wish I did not pay such careful attention. Maybe then I would not have learned that they thought being a girl was such a bad thing."
I think this book would be an excellent read for middle graders. It gives them awareness of some real issues that happened in this world. Difficulties that children at their age have in another country, or maybe even around them. Throughout this book, they could also learn about the culture in Pakistan. How they live, their occupation, the tradition, and even how they see the world.
"There it was yet again, my father’s words: Life isn’t fair. Maybe it was true, but why was that a reason to just accept everything and go along with it?"
This book is quite a heavy read. So I think it fits to be read by older children, teenagers, and even adults can enjoy it too. Unfortunately, not many people talk about this book. This is so good! It is a worthy read and I highly recommend it.
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Aisha Saeed
Aisha Saeed is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of books for children. Her books, including the middle grade novel Amal Unbound (Penguin), the young adult novel Yes No Maybe So (co-written with Becky Albertalli), and the anthology Once Upon Eid (co-edited with S.K. Ali) received multiple starred reviews. Amal Unbound was selected as a Global Read Aloud for 2018 and was the winner of the South Asian book award. Her picture book, Bilal Cooks Daal (Simon and Schuster) received an APALA honor. Aisha is also a founding member of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books™. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her family.
Source: aishasaeed.com
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