Hena Khan

Deena feels anxiety as she tries to find her artistic voice in the midst of her family life. Deena's mom contributes more stress than she realizes on Deena, worrying about money constantly. She designs and orders clothes from Pakistan and sells them from their home. Deena wants to help her mother by creating an online presence. Deena's cousin rarely puts her phone down, so she can help with getting content that people will look at. Deena's mom continually tells her to only worry about her school work. Deena, however, stresses over her mother's constant comments about work and money. She also sees her mother staying up all night to alter outfits for customers (Aunties) who want something immediately. Deena tells her mother to refuse and charge more. She also stresses that her parents argue too much. Often Deena has severe stomach aches and struggles with getting to school and eating.

As the novel progresses, Deena becomes sick more and more often. She worries about upsetting her best friend because they agreed to wait until both families allowed them both to have social media. Now that Deena is on social media, she sees the overwhelming control of diving down rabbit holes that make you doubt yourself. Most importantly, Deena loves art. She created beautiful art and would like to have more art lessons, but those cost money.

Deena must learn how to handle stress and anxiety, instead of thinking about "what ifs," worrying about what might happen. She must learn to be more realistic and handle daily life so that she isn't debilitated by the side effects of stress. Overall, it's a nice book about creating boundaries with family, friends, social media, choices, stress, and life.… (more)

Asophisticated color-concept book featuring a contemporary family introduces Islam to young Muslims and children who don’t practice this faith.

Here the basic colors, plus gold and silver, are used to explain aspects of Islamic life. A young girl with very large eyes narrates, using short, childlike and occasionally forced verses to match colors and objects: “Gold is the dome of the mosque, / big and grand. / Beside it two towering / minarets stand.” She describes a red prayer rug, her mom’s blue hijab (headscarf), white kufis (traditional men’s woven hats), black ink for a calligraphic design, brown dates for Ramadan, orange henna designs, an Eid gift of a doll with a purple dress, a yellow zakat (charity) box, a green Quran (green has special significance in Islam, not explained here), and a silver fanoos, “a shiny lantern.” The glossary is excellent, explaining unfamiliar terms succinctly. The stylized illustrations, richly detailed, often play with the sizes of the objects in a surrealistic way. It is difficult to tell whether the family lives in the Middle East, Britain (home of the artist) or North America. The secular architecture looks Western, but the mosque looks very grand and Middle Eastern. The clothing styles are difficult to associate with a particular country. This both maximizes accessibility and deprives the tale of specificity—clearly a conscious trade-off.

A vibrant exploratory presentation that should be supplemented with other books. (Picture book. 4-7)

-Kirkus Review… (more)