The Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta (Scholastic Press, released August 5, 320 pages, grades 4-8). Simi has a happy life in Northern India, where she’s surrounded by friends and family who celebrate her accomplishments at school and on the hockey field. But when a right-wing group comes to power, her Sikh father and Muslim mother become targets. After her father is badly beaten, he’s able to illegally immigrate to the United States, where he’s granted asylum and starts working as a taxi driver in New York. By the time he’s saved enough to send for Simi and her mother, though, immigration policies have changed in the US. The two of them have to make a dangerous desert crossing in Mexico, and they wind up getting separated. Simi makes it to a detention center but has to endure weeks of crowded, prison-like conditions and the agony of not knowing what has happened to her mother. Drawing on her experience as a leader in school and in sports, Simi finds ways to help herself. She’s eventually able to connect with her father, and the two of them work together to find her mom. Simi’s courage and kindness to others helps her to survive and finally bring her family together again.
This book puts a face on the phrase “illegal immigrant,” showing how families must make the difficult decision to leave their homelands, friends, and extended families to escape violence, and the incredibly harsh conditions that they endure in their quest to find a place where they can live in safety. Simi’s voice is compelling, as are the stories of others she meets on the journey, and once I got to about page 100, I had to keep going until I knew she and her family were going to make it. While advanced fourth and fifth grade readers would enjoy this, I think middle school kids would perhaps get more from the story. Thanks to Scholastic for providing me with an advance copy.
The Burning Season by Caroline Starr Rose (Nancy Paulsen Books, 256 pages, grades 4-7). On Opal’s twelfth birthday, she starts her training with Gran, continuing the tradition of women in her family who have served as fire lookouts deep in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest. Although Opal loves her life with Gran and Mom and their small home in a lookout tower, she yearns to move to town and go to middle school like other kids. She also guards a deep secret–she’s afraid of fire, which killed her dad and almost took the rest of the family during a huge wildfire a few years back. When her mom gets stranded in town after a fierce storm and Gran gets injured in the woods, Opal comes face to face with a fire that threatens Gran and their home. Despite her own injuries, she must overcome her fears and fight the fire alone. Opal discovers that sometimes bravery means doing the very thing you’re afraid of and that protecting those you love can give you courage. Includes a seven-page author’s note with additional information about wildfires and the history of fire management.
This novel-in-verse kept me riveted from the first page with its unusual setting and strong characters living a happy if somewhat bare bones life in the middle of the wilderness. The action really picks up when Mom leaves for supplies and they don’t hear from her for several days, then continues when Opal accidentally breaks their only pair of binoculars and Gran gets hurt. Opal’s favorite books are Gary Paulsen’s Brian series, and this story is an homage to their combination of nail-biting survival story and wilderness setting.