Grounded

Grounded
Aisha Saeed, Huda Al-Marashi, Jamilah Thompkins Bigelow, & S.K. Ali
Amulet, 2023
253 pages
Grades 4-7
Mystery

Four authors pen the voices of four different Muslim tweens who are "grounded" at a fictional airport after a national Muslim conference. All four young people are from different backgrounds and have never met, yet share the same religious identity, though are on different places of the path of their faith. Hanna, animal lover extraordinaire, is terrified of her father remarrying and is dodging any serious conversation with him. When she becomes aware that a cat is missing at the airport where she is stranded, it becomes her mission to locate poor Snickerdoodle, eventually pulling in the other kids. Feek is a budding rapper, much like his famous and way too busy father. He wants to hone his craft, except he is always having to mind his rambunctious little sister Raqi. Sami has little self-confidence and is riddled with anxiety. He only feels confident while practicing Karate, yet thanks to this change in plans, he is going to miss an important tournament. Nora's mother is an upper level politician, who is so busy that she can't get her only daughter's birthday right. That's okay-at least Nora has her NokNok followers who love her-or do they? Follow these four unlikely friends as they try to track down a missing cat, all while causing commotion at the airport.

Grounded presents a fun and diverting summer read, all while providing much needed Muslim representation in children's literature. The four voices are all unique and capture their characters effortlessly, all within the framework of a coherent story. The different authors/narrators manage to keep the plot moving without repetition, while providing ever-changing points of view to the action. At times suspenseful, while at other times sincere and heartbreaking, the authors also manage to inject humor to lighten some of the important messages of family dynamics, friends troubles, identity, and growing up. All of the characters are facing family problems, which they manage to work out with their grown-ups by book's end. Not everything is neatly sewn up, yet the reader is left with a sense of hope and the road to healing in every character's situation. And the cat? This umbrella plot is resolved in the best possible way with unexpected allies helping out and a very sweet reward as a payoff. Grounded is the perfect book to read while traveling and reads best in an airport. Toss a copy in the carry-on of your favorite tween.