Amina's Voice by Hena Khan

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Justification

2018 Bluebonnet Nominee Amina's Voice is a touching story for young readers about a young Muslim girl's journey to find her voice in the uncharted waters of middle school. With an easy to follow plot, this is excellent choice for young readers, especially in light of the very gentle way it handles the events of Amina's mosque being vandalized.

Evaluation

Plot: The plot is incredibly easy to follow and very simple. It is very obviously written for children without the understanding that children can and should be engaged in more complex reading. I would argue that the plot deals a bit too gently with the events surrounding the vandalization of Amina's mosque. It was described in a very rated G manner that relied on Amina and her brother's reactions to convey the severity of damage rather than description. I was shocked to realize I was 80% through the book and there was still no event that explained the title. Obviously, Amina likes to sing and is talented. However, she spends much of the book hemming over how much she does not want to be in the spotlight, which changes after the mosque is vandalized. The conclusion felt a little too neatly wrapped, except for the ease with which grade school friendships often shift. 

Characters: Amina is never physically described, nor are her relatives. The only character to be described is Amina's frenemy, Emily. Emily is a green-eyed pretty blonde who is perfectly sweet and kind, much to Amina's annoyance. While Amina's reactions to her best friend suddenly having a new best friend are very believable, it felt very frustrating to be reading a book about a young Muslim girl where no person of color is described in detail. It is a stretch to say that Amina and her brother, Mustafa show any real depth of character. Ultimately, the entire story is wrapped up in a nice friendly colonial lens-bow when Emily's father, who we never meet until the end sweeps in and declares that he will fix the mosque at cost.

Themes: This is a great book for exploring themes of friendship, community, and family connections on a very basic level. However, the execution of these themes is so trite as to feel white-washed in some cases. As if this is a book that comforts white people instead of building empathy for Amina, her community, and the struggles they often have to deal with in the continued wake of post-9/11 and Covid attitudes. 

Conclusion

I honestly feel that Khan belittles her intended audience by keeping all the plot points so innocent and innocuous. The realities of conservative minded elderly uncles rarely result in a 3 month change of heart. And while all of this shows how a community can come together and support one another, how people can change… it doesn’t do so in a manner that truly engages young readers in a meaningful story. While this is a good introductory text for very young readers to explore how community, friendship, and race all intersect, it's at the very shallow end of the pool and suffers from an unfortunate post-colonial lens that does nothing for the book.

Citation

Khan, H. (2017). Amina's voice. New York: Simon & Schuster.