Hafsa's Way
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- Pedido anticipado
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- Se espera: 10 mar 2026
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- $159.00
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- Pedido anticipado
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- $159.00
Descripción editorial
In this gripping novel by the author of the New York Times bestseller Amal Unbound, Hafsa pushes back against her family’s expectations—and discovers her own power.
Hafsa intends to be a doctor one day, so she’s thrilled to be accepted into Bukhari Summer Science Camp for kids who share her dream. Her parents, however, do not share her enthusiasm. They don’t support the idea of girls being doctors, the camp is expensive, and they don’t want to send her off to the big city of Lahore unsupervised. But when her brother-in-law offers to pay, and he and her sister invite her to stay at their house instead of in the dorms, her parents grudgingly give in. Hafsa couldn’t be more excited, but things get off to a shaky start when it immediately becomes apparent that she accidently signed up for the wrong program. And since she’s the only one not staying in the dorms, her fellow students treat her like an outsider—and a country bumpkin. On top of all that, she’s worried about her sister, who seems to have set aside her own career goals to please her in-laws.
But Hafsa’s way is to forge ahead, whether that means finding ways to pursue her medical studies, immersing herself in the climate studies program, or taking a pivotal field trip to the zoo—where an encounter with an elephant leads to several unexpected outcomes. It’s not easy to negotiate being part of a community—and a family—that doesn’t support her dreams, but Hafsa’s never been the type to take no for an answer. She’s determined to grab any chance she can for a better future, no matter what the odds are stacked against her.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Inspired in part, per an author's note, by the true story of an orphaned Asian elephant transplanted to the Islamabad Zoo, this tidy novel by Saeed (Omar Rising) traces a Pakistani youth's experience learning to advocate for others. Determined Hafsa dreams of becoming a medical doctor. She's thrilled when her traditional father, pressured by her older sister Shabnam and Shabnam's physician husband Sohail, reluctantly allows Hafsa to attend a prestigious science camp in Lahore, where the newly married couple lives with Sohail's wealthy parents. Hafsa is disappointed, however, to learn that the camp curriculum focuses not on medicine but on climate change. But her disappointment soon grows into curiosity and concern for the animals in the city zoo and their deteriorating living conditions—especially for elephant, Gulab. Hafsa's deepening attachment to Gulab and her activism against animal cruelty steadily unfolds alongside peripheral family struggles: after Shabnam abandons her goal of attending culinary school to instead help her mother-in-law fundraise for Sohail's hospital, Hafsa's attempted interventions sow resentment within the sisters' relationship. While Hafsa's emotional voice reads as somewhat young, and conflicts are resolved a bit smoothly, the development of Hafsa's passions evolves naturally and credibly, and her achievements feel well-earned. Ages 10–up.
