Carol

Amal Unbound [Book Review]

December 21, 2018

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

Amal Unbound 2

Genre/Categories/Setting: Middle-Grade Realistic Fiction, Education, Pakistan

My Summary:

Amal, living with her loving family in a quiet Pakistani village, dreams of becoming a teacher. Her educational goals are temporarily disrupted when her parents require Amal to stay home to care for her siblings while Mom recovers from childbirth. Amal is determined to keep learning despite the setback. However, events spiral out of control when Amal must work as a family servant for a corrupt landlord to pay off the family debt. Although Amal faces difficult challenges in her new and restricted life, she learns to work with others and is brave enough to take risks to effect change.

My Thoughts:

“If everyone decided nothing could change, nothing ever would.”

Part of the purpose of this blog is to read diversely and to support women authors, so I’m thrilled to bring you this review.

Themes. This riveting story of a brave girl adapting to and affecting change in her circumstances is an inspiring story for all middle-grade students and adults alike, and it serves as an introduction to the topic of indentured servitude as we experience forced labor through Amal’s circumstances. Nothing accomplishes building compassion and promoting understanding better than quality literature. Other themes include class structure, sexism, poverty, and the limitations that come from being born female.

Education. One reason this is an important book is for children to realize how important education is in a girl’s life and that not every girl in the world has this access. Even during Amal’s time working as an indentured servant, she didn’t give up hope of an education. In fact, the meaning of Amal in Arabic is “hope.” The author points out that millions of young girls fight for their right to an education. We may be most familiar with the popular and well-known Malala, and Amal represents all the lesser-known brave girls everywhere.

Why read children’s literature? The story may seem idealistic and simplistic to an adult, but reading it as if you were the target audience (4th grade and up) will enable you to appreciate the introduction of a difficult and troubling topic to a young audience. In addition, I feel it’s important that children from every culture can find themselves in stories (realizing that Amal is only an example of one girl, from one family, and she is not a stereotypical representation of all girls from Pakistan culture). If we buy these stories, publishers will take notice and more diverse literature will find its way into bookstores and classrooms. Finally, adult readers might want to make recommendations or buy gifts for children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews. Great literature can be enjoyed by every age, and this is a great example of a book to read with your children to generate important discussions.

Amal. Our strong-willed protagonist is a likable and memorable character who is brave, smart, realistic, determined, smart, kind, inspirational, and a fighter. We read about her in honor of brave girls everywhere. A great companion read for this would be I Am Malala or The Girl With the Louding Voice.

Recommended. I’m highly recommending this book for readers 4th grade and up, for readers who appreciate compelling stories, for fans of diverse reads, and for those looking for a strong female heroine. It will be on my best of 2018 list and it’s one I will widely and enthusiastically recommend.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Amal Unbound

(Isn’t this a striking cover?!)

Amal Unbound Information Here

Meet the Author, Aisha Saeed

Aisha Saeed

Aisha Saeed (aishasaeed.com) is a Pakistani American writer, teacher, and attorney. Her writings have appeared in publications including The Orlando Sentinel, Muslim Girl magazine, and BlogHer. As one of the founding members of the much talked about We Need Diverse Books Campaign, she is helping to change the conversation about diversity in literature. She is also a contributing author to the highly acclaimed Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women, which features the story of her own (happily) arranged marriage. Aisha lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and sons.

QOTD:

Do you read Middle Grade or Young Adult literature?

Do you enjoy reading diversely about other cultures?

Happy Reading Book Worms

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
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“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

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32 comments

  1. Beautiful review of what sounds like a beautiful book, Carol! I loved how you described the importance of reading children’s books. We can definitely extract meaning from them and I’m in awe of all the books like this children have available to them these days. Such a wonderful and important thing!

    Reply

  3. Love the idea of this book– story of a life from another culture and the promise of education. Hoping it has a semi-happy ending! Would be a great book to read with my 2 oldest grand-girls! thanks. And- loved the Where’d You Go Bernadette trailer!! Got to see that one! xo Carol!

    Reply

    • Yes…. it had a hopeful ending! Read it first to see what you think. I think it’s always a good idea to read books like this together….so many important things to discuss.

      Reply

  12. […] I’m intrigued by being transported to a world I know nothing about, experiencing a life foreign to me through a unique point of view, and falling in love with a character. I love cheering for Adunni and hoping for her future because, in my mind, she’s a symbol of oppressed girls around the world who fight every day for education and for their voices to be heard. The Girl With the Louding Voice reminds me of memorable reads with similar themes such as The Pearl That Broke its Shell, I Am Malala, and Amal Unbound. […]

    Reply

  24. Excellent review, Carol. This sounds like such an emotional book, with a very important issue. It is too bad that these types of things are still happening.

    Reply

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