Three stranded middle schoolers brave a flooding Houston during Hurricane Harvey in Some of Us Are Brave by Saadia Faruqi (A Place at the Table), a stirring middle-grade portrayal of newfound friendship.
It's August 2017. Twelve-year-old Pakistani American Yasir wants to play soccer professionally so he can pull himself and his mom out of poverty. First step: become captain of his school team. But current captain, 13-year-old white American Cody, won't back down--not based on his "Go back to where you came from" slurs at summer camp. Cody learned this "be mean to everyone so you can look tough" tactic from his dad, who beats Cody and locks him in the shed overnight. Thirteen-year-old South Asian American Mona feels stuck; her parents travel constantly, leaving her responsible for her seven-year-old brother, Omar. Art frees her, particularly drawing mythological floods. When Hurricane Harvey inundates Houston, Yasir, Cody, Mona, Omar, and two strays (a Jack Russell in a BabyBjörn and an intrepid cat) are all forced together into a canoe as they seek shelter.
Set against the murky, thigh-high floodwater of Pakistani American Faruqi's own devastated hometown, the children must tackle long-held fears born of trauma that have now become imminent: of drowning, of the dark, of being alone and adrift. Cody gradually sheds his dad's racist vitriol as he supports the remarkably forgiving Yasir and Mona who, in turn, repeat the Prophet Noah's prayer from the Quran, "Anni Maghloobun Fantasir," as a mantra ("I am overcome, so come to my help"). Faruqi traces the children's uncertain odyssey and its direct aftermath with a grace and tenderness that is as radiant as her characters' burgeoning friendships. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer