Review by Booklist Review
When 10-year-old Bilal moves from Pakistan to Virginia, it's not just his favorite sport cricket that he misses but also his much beloved father, who had to temporarily stay behind. His older cousin suggests Bilal join the baseball team in order to make new friends and learn English, but baseball isn't anything like cricket! To make matters worse, there's a girl on the team who's better than everyone, drawing the team's wrath, but Bilal actually likes her. How can he adjust to a new sport, a new language, and a new culture while waiting for his dad to join the family? This sensitive middle-grade novel is an excellent introduction to cricket, culture shock, and what life may be like for some recent immigrants. Bilal's diverse friends are somewhat refreshingly more concerned with the fact that there's a girl on their team than his heritage. Although the ending is predictable, for fans of Firoozeh Dumas' It Ain't So Awful, Falafel (2016) and readers looking for a sports book with heart, this will be a home run.--Linsenmeyer, Erin Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bilal's world is turned upside town when his father disappears for three days from their home in Karachi, Pakistan. After his father returns just as unexpectedly, Bilal, his mother, and his two sisters leave almost immediately for America to live with his uncle's family. Bilal slowly learns that his father has been accused of a crime he didn't commit and must clear his name before he can join them. Although Bilal's extended family in Virginia is welcoming, the 10-year-old longs for his father and life back home. Lorenzi (Flying the Dragon) uses Bilal's candid first-person perspective to bring readers into his struggles, including trading his favorite sport-cricket-for baseball. It's through baseball that Bilal befriends Jordan, a girl who also misses her father, a soldier in Afghanistan. Filled with details about Pakistani and Muslim life (Bilal is shocked by the swimming attire at the local pool: "Aren't the adults embarrassed to be half-naked in front of everyone?"), Lorenzi's novel offers a sensitive look at the cultural merging that accompanies immigration. Ages 9-12. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Bilal's 10th birthday doesn't go as he planned: after his father encounters some trouble at work, Bilal, his siblings, and his mother get visas to live with their family in Virginia while Bilal's father stays on in Pakistan for the time being. Immediately upon arriving in America, Bilal notices that some things are the same-familiar Pakistani foods and Muslim customs-yet other things are startlingly different. The English Bilal learned in Karachi seems different from the language spoken by everyone around him. Bilal, an excellent cricket player, is dismayed to learn that Americans play baseball. He begins to make friends during summer baseball camp, yet not everything works out well. Bilal doesn't quite understand why his teammates are so mad that a girl has made their team, he is embarrassed by his baseball abilities and need for ESL classes at school, and he misses Pakistan and, above all, his father. Lorenzi weaves a coherent narrative that includes many issues a new immigrant, as well as any fifth grader, might encounter. The author avoids stereotypes and inspires empathy for Bilal; it is clear Lorenzi has infused this tale with what she's learned as an ESL specialist and also done her research to ensure an accurate portrayal of the life of a young Pakistani immigrant. VERDICT Add this title to your shelves, and pitch it to kids who like sports stories and moving realistic novels.-Amy Koester, Learning Experiences Department, Skokie Public Library, IL © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Ten-year-old Bilal struggles to fit in after he immigrates from Pakistan to Virginia. Bilal also longs for his father--trapped in Pakistan by a legal dilemma--to join them. Writing in the first person, Lorenzi empathetically conveys Bilal's confusions over language, the dissimilarities between cricket and baseball, and the misogyny of his teammates toward their only girl teammate. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.