Golden Girl
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From the award-winning, ALA Notable author of Unsettled and Lailah’s Lunchbox, this is a captivating coming-of-age middle grade novel in verse about seventh grader Aafiyah Qamar, a Pakistani American girl who hatches a special plan to help her family but finds that doing what’s right isn’t always easy.
For fans of The Thing About Jellyfish and Clean Getaway, this is a heartfelt, soul-searching story with laughter, hope, and lessons learned.
Seventh grader Aafiyah loves playing tennis, reading Weird but True facts, and hanging out with her best friend, Zaina. However, Aafiyah has a bad habit that troubles her—she’s drawn to pretty things and can’t help but occasionally “borrow” them.
But when her father is falsely accused of a crime he hasn’t committed and gets taken in by authorities, Aafiyah knows she needs to do something to help. When she brainstorms a way to bring her father back, she turns to her Weird but True facts and devises the perfect plan.
But what if her plan means giving in to her bad habit, the one she’s been trying to stop? Aafiyah wants to reunite her family but finds that maybe her plan isn’t so perfect after all. . .
A Bank Street Books Best Children's Book of the Year for ages 12-14 in Family/School/Community Fiction (2023)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A teen of Pakistani descent faces her penchant for "borrowing" things and navigates puberty-related changes in Faruqi's (Amira's Picture Day) novel in verse. When 13-year-old Aafiyah Qamar's Abba is arrested in Dubai for a theft that he didn't commit, Aafiyah is determined to help the family—not least because she feels guilt about enjoying "the feeling/ of something new in my hands/ that's not mine." The incident occurs as the Muslim family—Aafiyah, her parents, and younger brother Ibrahim—are returning home to Atlanta from Karachi, accompanying Aafiyah's Dada Abu, who seeks cancer treatment in the U.S. Unable to offer any help, her grandmother stays behind, while in America, her mother goes through their savings to hire lawyers for Aafiyah's father. When Aafiyah, whose family has always been "well off," sets out to help pay for her father's expensive lawyer, she gets caught, and consequences follow. Aafiyah, who has mild hearing loss in one ear, enjoys facts, tennis, and photography, and is deeply aware of her best friend's physical changes—and her own lack of them— in this story with a well-characterized, flawed heroine and a lot of heart. An author's note discusses the real-life seeds of this story. Ages 8–12.
