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This heartfelt coming-of-age novel in verse tells the powerful story of a seventh-grade Syrian American boy and his struggles, big and small, as he navigates middle school.
"The exact type of book I would've loved, and needed, as a kid." —Jasmine Warga, New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Honor recipient for Other Words for Home
Seventh grade begins, and Kareem’s already fumbled it.
His best friend moved away, he messed up his tryout for the football team, and because of his heritage, he was voluntold to show the new kid—a Syrian refugee with a thick and embarrassing accent—around school. Just when Kareem thinks his middle school life has imploded, the hotshot QB promises to get Kareem another tryout for the squad. There’s a catch: to secure that chance, Kareem must do something he knows is wrong.
Then, like a surprise blitz, Kareem’s mom returns to Syria to help her family but can’t make it back home. If Kareem could throw a penalty flag on the fouls of his school and home life, it would be for unnecessary roughness.
Kareem is stuck between. Between countries. Between friends, between football, between parents—and between right and wrong. It’s up to him to step up, find his confidence, and navigate the beauty and hope found somewhere in the middle.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
September 10, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593944820
- File size: 97188 KB
- Duration: 03:22:28
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Narrator Peter Romano's soft voice is at an appropriate volume for Syrian American Kareem, a middle child who feels unseen at home and at school. Kareem's deep feelings are revealed through the verses delivered by Romano. He narrates attentively with careful attention to the football idioms and metaphors that depict Kareem's passion. Romano's ability to shift between Syrian and American accents illuminates how Kareem is caught between cultures: For example, he acts with cruelty toward a recent immigrant his age while going against his own integrity to benefit an American friend. Romano's emotions deepen at the passing of Executive Order 13769, which denies Kareem's grandfather needed entry to the U.S. for medical treatment and sends his mother's home to care for him. S.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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