Amal unbound

Review by Booklist Review

Pakistani Amal loves going to school and looks forward to becoming a teacher in the future. She only becomes aware of nuances in gender roles and the lack of opportunities afforded to girls after her father tells her that she must take care of the household while her mother recovers from childbirth. Amal hopes to continue her schooling once her mother is well, but that goal drifts further away when an accidental encounter lands her in a humongous heap of trouble. In order to spare her family from incurring further wrath and unfair consequences, Amal becomes an indentured servant to the odious Khan family. Readers will find that a little perseverance and a heart filled with hope can eventually surmount a harsh reality. Saeed fills her prose with lush descriptions of Pakistani life, while still managing to connect with readers whose surroundings and experiences will be starkly different. Hand to any reader who struggles with definitive gender roles, norms, and expectations held in place by societal structures.--Bratt, Jessica Anne Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Ayyar gives an uneven performance of Saeed's middle grade novel about the underworld of indentured servitude in contemporary Pakistan. When 12-year-old Amal publicly defies the scion of the powerful Khan family, the Khans call in her father's debt and force Amal to work as their servant. While in their household, she discovers evidence that the Khans have engaged in illegal activities and forges alliances with other servants in the household to expose them. Ayyar's performance is most captivating when she is narrating Amal's inner monologue; her treble voice is quite believable as that of a child maturing into a woman. The problem is that many of the characters-whether they are adults or children, male or female-sound this way, too. When Amal's parents have a heated discussion about Amal's future, for example, it's impossible to tell which of them is speaking unless the dialogue makes that clear; later in the book, the Khans' chauffeur and housekeeper sound indistinguishable from each other and from the local teacher who helps to broaden Amal's world. The lack of differentiation is a major drawback and makes this production more confusing than it needs to be. Ages 10-up. A Penguin/Paulsen hardcover. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-Amal doesn't think she is brave. She's just a girl in a Pakistani village who loves to read and teach reading. As a 12-year-old girl, she is expected to stop focusing on her education and start learning her role as a woman in her village. Sulking after a trip to the market, she is justifiably rude to a man who almost ran her over. Unbeknownst to Amal, this was Jawad Sahib, son to Khan Sahib, ruler of her village. To repay her "debt," her father allows her to become a servant to the Khans for an undetermined amount of time. As a servant, Amal begins to learn secrets of the Khan family; secrets that could possibly be her chance at freedom. Priya Ayyar is a natural narrator for the voice of Amal. Listeners can feel Amal's struggle with her expected gender role and new life of servitude. The author's note includes a brief shout-out to Malala Yousafzai. VERDICT An engaging and heartfelt listen. Perfect for book discussions and classrooms.-Amanda Schiavulli, Liverpool Public Library, NY © Copyright 2018. 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.

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Review by Horn Book Review

Twelve-year-old Amal lives with her family in a village in Punjab, Pakistan. When she accidentally insults Jawad Sahib, a member of the villages ruling Khan family, he demands that her father repay his debts, which forces Amal into indentured servitudean experience that ultimately leads Amal to challenge the status quo. With a vocal inflection that ranges from Amals earnestness to the Khan familys aristocratic-sounding, Hindi-inflected accent, including Jawad Sahibs barely controlled disdain, the narrator presents scenes of domestic life as compelling events that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats. julie hakim azzam March/April 2019 p 110(c) Copyright 2019. 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.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A Pakistani girl's dreams of an education dissolve when she is forced into indentured servitude.Bookish Amal, who lives in a small village in Punjab, Pakistan, dreams of becoming a teacher and a poet. When she inadvertently insults Jawad, the son of her village's wealthy and influential, but corrupt, landlord, Khan Sahib, she is forced into indentured servitude with his family. Jawad assures Amal's father that she will be "treated like all my servants, no better, no worse" and promises him that he will "let her visit twice a year like the others." Once in her enslaver's home, Amal is subject to Jawad's taunts, which are somewhat mitigated by the kind words of his mother, Nasreen Baji, whose servant she becomes. Amal keeps her spirits up by reading poetry books that she surreptitiously sneaks from the estate library and teaching the other servant girls how to read and write. Amal ultimately finds a friend in the village's literacy centerfunded, ironically enough, by the Khan familywhere she befriends the U.S.-educated teacher, Asif, and learns that the powerful aren't invincible. Amal narrates, her passion for learning, love for her family, and despair at her circumstance evoked with sympathy and clarity, as is the setting.Inspired by Malala Yousafzai and countless unknown girls like her, Saeed's timely and stirring middle-grade debut is a celebration of resistance and justice. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Chapter 1 I watched from the window as the boys tumbled out of the brick schoolhouse across the field from us. Our class was running over. Again.       Girls shifted in their seats and snuck glances at the clock above the chalkboard. My friend Hafsa sighed.      "And finally, I have some bad news," Miss Sadia told us. She picked up a stack of papers from her desk. "I finished grading your math tests. Only five of you passed."      The class let out a collective groan.      "Now, now," she hushed us. "This just means we have more work to do. We'll go over it tomorrow and take another test next week."      "Those questions were hard," my younger sister Seema whispered to me. We lined up by the chalkboard at the front of the class to get our tests. "I should've stayed with the younger class until fall."      "Oh, come on. You know you probably passed," I whispered back. "When have you ever failed an exam?"      Seema tugged at her sleeves as she walked up to Miss Sadia. It was only in the arms that you could see my old uniform was too big on her. Miss Sadia handed Seema the paper. As expected, Seema's worried expression shifted to a smile. Her steps were lighter before she slipped out of the classroom.      "I'm sorry I can't help today," I told Miss Sadia once the room was empty. This was my favorite part of the day, when everyone left and it was just the two of us. The building felt like it had exhaled, expanding a little bit without all thirty-four of us, crammed two to a desk, filling up nearly every square inch of space. "My mother is in bed again."      "Is the baby almost here?"      "Yes, so my father said I have to come home and watch my sisters."      "I'll miss your help, Amal, but he's right; family comes first."      I knew helping family was what a good eldest daughter did, but this time after school with Miss Sadia wasn't just fun; it was important. I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, and who better to learn from than the best teacher I ever had? I loved washing the chalkboards, sweeping the floor and hearing stories of her college days. I loved watching her go over her lessons and rework them based on what worked and what didn't the day before. I learned so much from watching her. How could my father not understand?      "I could still use your help with the poetry unit next week," she told me. "Some of the students are grumbling about it. Think you could convince Hafsa to give it a chance? You know how she rallies the others to her side. She'll listen to you."      "I don't think she minds reading the poems. Writing them makes her nervous."      "You'd think everyone would be happy to write poetry! Shorter than an essay."      "It's different. The great poets like Ghalib, Rumi, Iqbal--they had things to say."      "And don't you have things to say?"      "What would I write about?" I laughed. "My little sisters? My father's sugarcane fields and orange groves? I love reading poems, but there's nothing for me to really write about. Our life is boring."      "That's not true! Write about what you see! Write about your dreams. Pakistan was founded by the dreams of poets. Aren't we of the same earth?"      Miss Sadia's dramatic way of talking was one of the reasons I loved her, but I wasn't convinced. It's not that I wasn't proud of my family and our life. I was lucky to belong to one of the more prosperous families in our Punjabi village but it didn't change the fact that I lived in a village so tiny, it didn't even register as a dot on a map.      But I promised I'd talk to Hafsa.      This is what I now remember most about my last afternoon at school--the smell of the dusty chalkboard, the sound of the students lingering outside the door, and mostly, how easily I took my ordinary life for granted.   Chapter 2 I raced down the school's gravel walkway to catch up to Seema and Hafsa. The sun blazed overhead, warming my chador and my hair beneath it.      "I'm buying Miss Sadia one of those bells I see on TV. You know, the kind that rings when class is over?" Hafsa grumbled.      "She doesn't always keep us late," I protested.      "Remember last week?" Hafsa said. "How she went on and on about constellations? By the time I got home, my brothers were out of their school clothes and halfway through their homework."      "But wasn't it interesting?" I asked. "The way the night stars help us when we're lost and tell all sorts of different stories?"      "Why do I need to know about connecting dots in the sky? I want to be the first doctor in my family. Not the first astronaut," Hafsa said.      Hafsa and I had been friends so long, I couldn't remember a time I didn't know her, but when she talked like this, I didn't understand her at all. Unlike Hafsa, I wanted to know everything there was to know. How fast did airplanes fly? Why did some leave whiffs of clouds in their wake and others didn't? Where did ladybugs go when the rain came hard and fast? What was it like to walk through the streets of Paris, or New York, or Karachi? There was so much I didn't know that even if I spent my whole life trying, I knew I could only learn a small percentage of it.      "How's your mom?" Hafsa asked. "My mother said her back is hurting."      "It's gotten worse," I told her. "She couldn't get out of bed yesterday."      "My mother said that's a good sign. Backaches mean a boy," Hafsa said. "I know that would make your parents happy."      "It would be fun to have a brother," I said.      "There it is! Look at the door!" Hafsa said when we turned the bend toward our homes. She pointed to the building that had appeared next to our village mosque. A structure had never emerged quite like this before with no explanation. Two weeks ago, a concrete foundation had been poured onto the field where we played soccer. The next week, brick walls arose and windows appeared, and today there was a door--painted lime green!      "Any idea yet what it could be?" I asked her.      "Yes." Hafsa grinned. If Hafsa could have it her way, she'd be permanently stationed by the crates of fruit at her family's market, soaking up every bit of gossip. "Khan Sahib is building a factory."      I rolled my eyes. Rumors and gossip were a part of life in our village. Some of the talk was ordinary, about the state of the crops or the weather, but often it centered on Khan Sahib, our village's powerful landlord.      "Why would he build a factory here? He has plenty in Islamabad and Lahore," Seema said.       What we need is a clinic. Look how much Amma's back hurts. The doctor in town is good, but this village needs a proper clinic."      "Do you really think Khan Sahib would put up anything to help us?" Hafsa scoffed.      "Maybe it's not him building it," I suggested.      "Look at the fancy green door! Who else has time and money to waste like that? You know I'm right."      Any unexplainable situation was always pinned to Khan Sahib. He was the mysterious figure I'd heard of all my life but never seen. When I was younger, he loomed large and scary, like a character in a horror story.      "Sure! He's the one who breathes fire when he talks, right?" I rolled my eyes.      "Didn't he pick all the fruit off Naima's guava tree?" Seema winked.      "I heard he's why we've had no rain for months," I continued.      "I don't decide what I hear," Hafsa huffed. "I just report it."      "We'll find out what it is soon enough." I hooked my arm through Seema's. "But in the meantime, let's hope it's a clinic."      Hafsa's house came first on our path, just past the post office. Then came mine. I saw it in the distance. Gray like the others surrounding it except for the roses my mother planted around its border just before I was born; they still bloomed each spring around this time, without fail. It's why spring was my favorite time of year.      My friend Omar peddled past us in his blue and khaki school uniform. He chimed his bell three times, our signal to meet. The stream. That's the direction he was headed in.      "Oh no." I looked in my book bag. "I left my exam in class."      "Again?" Hafsa frowned.      "Tell Amma I won't be long?" I asked Seema.      Seema hesitated. Our father would be home soon, but she knew Omar didn't chime his bicycle bell three times unless it was important.      "Okay." Seema nodded. "Hurry." Excerpted from Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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