I absolutely loved this modern retelling of Little Women, this time centering on a quartet of Pakistani-American sisters growing up in Georgia (the state, not the country). Given the way it was described in a few review journals, I wasn’t sure if this was going to read too young for my middle school students, but I was over the moon to discover this is one of those rare novels in which the characters ARE in middle school and it reads at that level! This will be joining my school library’s collection this fall as soon as it comes out!

Wonderful retelling of “Little Women” through the lens of a close knit Muslim family who experience a series of upheavals. Narrated by second oldest sister, Jameela, the story details her special closeness with her younger sister, sibling jealousy of her seemingly perfect older sister, and her endless squabbles wither youngest sister. The loving family faces challenges and stands together in spirit to face them. Jameela grows as an individual and as a budding journalist. Nicely filled out characters and a satisfying quick read.

This book was a glimpse into a culture unfamiliar to students in many parts of the country. It will be a nice way for students to see I to that world. Also, many young people have been through similar, stressful and sad circumstances and will empathize with the family.

More to the Story is a delightful middle grade read inspired by Little Women. Maryam, Jameela, Bisma, and Azeela, the Mirza sisters, are growing up in an American Muslim household and dealing with their father often being away for different business trips. Ali, a friend of the family, moves from England and Jameela is assigned to write about him for the school newspaper, of which she is the features editor. The family dynamics are fleshed out well and realistic, with Jameela often hurting Azeela's feelings or feeling jealous of Maryam's good looks. Throughout the book, Jameela learns how to balance her fiery reporter's instinct with tact and care for the people around her.
It is hard to read a retelling of a favorite classic, and I think Hena Khan's choice to be inspired by Little Women (rather than a retelling) was the right one. Although at the beginning I was conflating each with their Alcott character, by the end of the story they had each become individuals in my mind. The writing is solidly middle grade and accessible, with Jameela's newspaper article about microaggressions standing out as a great teaching moment. A recommended purchase for any middle grade classroom or library.

4.5-5
I loved this book! I admit I downloaded it because of the blurb that said it was inspired by Little Women. But as much as I loved that book when I was young, I probably only read it once or twice, so I didn't remember much of it. So as I read this, I didn't really notice similarities to Little Women other than the fact that there were 4 daughters and they all had different interests and personalities. But as I continued with the story, I started remember some details of the original cast of characters. Still, I don't think that it was important or necessary that you had any background with Little Women. This story is about a lovely Pakastani family living in America and it's told from the point of view of the second daughter. Without giving away any spoilers, the family experiences hardship and the narrator even makes some mistakes. But she and her sisters learn from these experiences and grow closer as a result. The last paragraph had me completely bawling as it was a perfect way to end the book. I highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Little Women, but also to those who like realistic fiction and stories about families, especially with a cultural bent. Now to recommend this to my younger daughter--I know she's going to love it!

ARC provided by NetGalley.
Hena Khan has done it again. I absolutely adored this book and can’t wait to recommend it to so many of our readers. This book was crafted beautifully...everything from the main characters to the supporting cast, the nuanced family interactions to the journalism theme, the romance to the exploration of microaggressions. Get this book now.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. I enjoyed this retelling of Little Women immensely and it was fun to pick out parts of the original story while reading. However, the story is its own and I found myself forgetting at times that it was based on anything at all. Jameela's family is wonderfully close-knit and supportive of each other, and I particularly enjoyed how Jameela (AKA Jo) had an updated relationship with writing and the problems a young woman might face in journalism.

The story of Jameela and her family, including a new cousin, Ali reminds us that we ALL have more to our stories than what we put out front for the world to see. We are all carrying secrets that make us who we are. The book was an incredible reminder to give everyone a little more grace for we have no idea what their story really is.
Jameela and her sisters and mother are devastated when they discover that their father has to go overseas for a new job, but the news doesn't seem to get better. At the same time a cousin from England they have never met, moves to America and brings his own challenges and joys.
Jameela is trying to balance all of this at home while holding up her end of the deal as new features editor of the school newspaper with another student that she does not see eye to eye with.
The story is engaging, eye-opening and wonderful all at the same time. It is a book that you feel truly involved in from beginning to end.

More to the Story is a phenomenal book which draws its inspiration from Little Women. Readers do not have to be familiar with the source material to fully appreciate this story of family, friendship, and growing up. Hena Khan presents an engaging story full of interesting and sympathetic characters and incorporates many modern issues that can serve as discussion starters with students. Highly recommended.

I received an electronic ARC from Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing through NetGalley.
Modernized retelling of Little Women with fresh characters and modernized setting. Four Muslim sisters cope with a variety of family issues.
The father has to take a job out of the country.
One sister (Bisma) is diagnosed with cancer.
The youngest sister (Aleeza) is a rather spoiled artist.
The oldest sister (Maryam) is practically perfect.
The main character (Jameela) is a budding journalist who struggles with her place in life.
A familiar set up - down to the first letters of their names - but Khan pulls readers in with her descriptions and scenarios that will seem similar to pieces of their own lives. Characters are three-dimensional and more is revealed about them throughout. The supportive community characters are given life as well.
Will definitely purchase this for our school library.

Sweet, modernized Little Women. Took all the spirit and best moments of the original story and placing them in a contemporary setting. I adored it and can't wait to share with students.

I absolutely love this book! It is about four sisters, their relationship with each other, growing up, middle school, illness, friends, and more. I was immediately sucked into their world and felt right at home. It reminded me so much of my sisters and myself, and also of one of my most favorite books about sisters, Little Women. When I got to the end and read the author's note, I was delighted to see that it was one of her favorites as well. I cannot wait to share this book with readers young and old!

This might very well have been the cutest thing I have ever read in my entire life. I really loved the idea of a middle grade Muslim retelling of Little Women, and the Mirza sisters were all so adorable and perfect and I loved all of them to no end.

Jameela was a really great protagonist and I really enjoyed her voice. I loved her passion for journalism and the lessons she learned along the way in this book. I loved her love for her family and how she was there for each of them in her own way. I loved her and Ali and how dang adorable and perfect the two of them were.

This book was just the best and I really loved it with all my heart <3

Although based on Louisa May Alcott's beloved Little Women, Hena Khan's juvenile fiction novel takes readers on a journey that's both new and informative. Following the antics of a close-knit American Muslim family, readers will learn about culture, customs, and holidays that give a sense of purpose and meaning to a group that is often misrepresented and misunderstand. Books can serve as windows to another culture and even create empathy. That's just what More to the Story does. Fan's of Little Women may enjoy this new, modern tale, but it's also a must read for fans of Wendy Mass and Raina Telgemeier.

I was fortunate to receive a free ARC of this book from Netgalley. The above thoughts, insights, or recommendations are my own meek musings.

I have read everything I can get my hands on that is written by Hena Khan. I’ve added her picture books to my K-5 library. Amina’s Voice was a district Battle of the Books title during the 2018-2019 school year, and thus we added several copies to the collection. Upon release, I will definitely be adding More to the Story to the collection too.

This book centers around a family of six, with four female children who realistically represent sibling relationships. I loved that Jameela, the narrator and the sibling who identifies as a writer, publishes her own family news that serves to provide the family with a space to highlight celebrations and information. I also love that she is trying to use her writing (whether it is on the school newspaper, in email form, or in a caring blogsite) as a gift, to do good, and to speak important truths. ( Much like Hena Khan does so beautifully!)
The extended family rallies around these characters in trying times in a way that shows just how important it is to have a team and a support system. It reminds the reader both to be willing to accept help from those around them, as well as to find ways to offer help when it is others who need it.

This was a story about a family living in Georgia, which to be fair is aimed at a younger and more feminine demographic than I represent, but I typically enjoy stories about Asian families; not always, but preponderantly, which is why I requested this one. Unfortunately, I couldn't get with it, and I DNF'd it about half way through because it was becoming less and less interesting to me and seemed more and more like it was going nowhere.

I only read as far as I did because I kept on hoping that something would happen, but nothing ever really did. Worse, there seemed to be no promise of anything interesting happening. All we got was day-to-day family routine and while, to me, that's interesting to begin with, in the long run it becomes boring if nothing else is going on.

The story tells of four Muslim sisters: Maryam, Jameela, Bisma, and Aleeza. The story focuses on Jameela, whose ambition it is to go into journalism, but her focus is very small - only on local things and low level activity. She never seems to look for a bigger picture. Even this limited focus became completely skewed when Ali, a first cousin, arrives from London, and starts attending Jameela's school. It seems that all she can focus on then is him, and it was at this point that I started losing interest as I saw that Jameela was no different from any other girl in any other such story, and that this one really had nothing new to show me or bring to the table. Since I DNF'd the novel I do not know where the relationship went, if anywhere, but that problem was that the author had written this story in such a way that I really didn't care.

The problem was that in introducing this guy, the author had ripped the story from Jameela's hands, No longer was it about her, but about her in relation to him, so she became his appendage instead of her own person. This is why I lost interest in her. Even before this, Jameela's ambition was to write a story to make her father proud. This was a problem because she was always chasing after his approval, especially when work took him away from home for an extended period, so even before Ali came into the picture, Jameela was an appendage of her father's.

I truly detest stories which have titles in the form of "The _____'s Daughter" where the blank can be some profession or whatever - such as 'The Undertaker's daughter' because books like that devalue women from the very title on. This book felt like one of those, which was simply missing the demeaning title: "The Asian Dad's Daughter" or "Ali's Love Interest" or something. Or, given that this novel was rooted, for some reason, in Little Women, perhaps its title should have been "Belittled Women"? Maybe Jameela changed later in the book, but the author left it far too late for me, since I'd lost all hope and faith in her by then.

Regardless, I cannot commend a story like this where the main female character isn't so much striking-out determinedly along the road less traveled, but instead is being swept along by traffic on the main road to the nearest mall and she doesn't even care. I wish the author all the best in her career because she has talent, but this story was flat for me. I truly wish there had been more to it.

This book was given to me as an eARC through NetGalley.

Synopsis (with mild spoilers)
I adored Amina's Voice, the last book I read by Hena Khan and was looking forward to hearing more from this author so that my library can build better representation of cultures while still identifying universal themes. This story follows Jameela (Jam), the second of four sisters living outside Atlanta, Georgia. Jameela is a journalist at heart and wants to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, who was a famous journalist. We see the life day-to-day with sibling rivalries, a new job for the father which takes him overseas, and the arrival of a family friend from England. The story seemed to be about dealing with these changes when the third sister is diagnosed with lymphoma. While the family tries to deal with this heavy situation, Jam tries to figure out her part in all of this and still navigate the tricky terrain of middle school

The first half of the book was a bit of a struggle because I wasn't sure where it was going, but once I got to a little before the midway point, it really picked up. I think there's always room for realistic fiction stories where the family is at the core of it-- I like this book for my middle grade readers as Jameela is NOT on her own to figure everything out. I did not make any connection to Little Women as it's been well over 30 years since I've read it; it was only the author's note that made me even think about it. All in all, I think it's a good book, but not a great book, despite my tears through the diagnosis and chemo treatment of Bisma. It should be in libraries looking to build a collection with representation and I am sure I will add it to mine!

For a book written by an accomplished author for 3rd to 7th graders focusing on a Muslim family, I was surprised at how despite wanting to absolutely love this book, I only kind of liked it.  For the first 100 of 271 pages, I really kept hoping there was going to be more to the story.  Luckily the story did pick up, but I couldn't get passed how much crushing all the sisters were doing on the one boy in the story, and how much stronger I wanted the main character to become.

SYNOPSIS:

Told from Jameela, "Jam's" perspective, the second of four daughters living with their parents in Georgia, the story focuses on the interpersonal relationships of the members of the family and their parents' close friends who's nephew has moved in with them from England, Ali.  All the kids are close in age and of Pakistani ethnicity, and are Muslim.  As the reader gets to know Maryam, Jam, Bisma, and Aleeza, you see the characters develop pretty well and their quirks and personalities emerge.  Jam is more tomboyish than the gorgeous Maryam who likes to bake.  Jam and Bisma share a room and are closer than Jam and Aleeza, the baby of the family who Jam finds is becoming a brat.  Jam also enjoys watching football and eating spicy food with her dad and desperately wants to be an award winning journalist like her grandfather.  She puts out a family newsletter and is ecstatic to be named the feature's editor as she starts 7th grade.  Ali is a year older and has moved to stay with his aunt and uncle until his mom and sister can join them.  He spends a lot of time with the sisters and in Little Women inspired fashion the little ones want his attention, Jam is a little jealous to learn he finds himself tongue tied when talking to the beautiful Maryam and Maryam in 9th grade is drawn to Ali, but doesn't vocalize it too much.  And then as the story picks up speed, Jam says, "In a matter of weeks, Baba got a new job and moved across the world, Bisma got sick and has to be in the hospital, and I messed up everything with Ali and the paper. How did my whole life get turned upside down so quickly?"  

The rest of the book is dealing with Baba working in the Middle East, Bisma being diagnosed with lymphoma, Jameela learning some journalistic basics, and Ali and Jameela becoming a bit more than just friends. 

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love that a Muslims desi family is being represented in an own voice novel that mentions religion as a natural part of their life, and doesn't apologize or overly explain it.  That being said, I feel like the book is trying to present "us" to the outside so to speak, rather than empower our own.  And I point this out, because I feel like it could have done both.  Dialogue between Ali and Jameela about how they might date as they get older, how Ali can't see any of the sisters having an arranged marriage.  How when Maryam gets asked to a dance her mom doesn't mention any religious reason her daughter should say no.  None of the girls wear hijab, and they mention that they don't wear hijab, at one point Jam knows she should get up and pray, but doesn't.  I don't expect a fictional story to teach our upper elementary age kids how to behave that is a parent's job, but to have some basic Islamic tenants brushed aside after being mentioned is worth noting.  Had the book just been more cultural, maybe I wouldn't be so critical, but Muslim girls are going to be excited to see themselves in this book and some of the messages might tilt a little more liberal than some parents would expect.  It is one thing when our girls read a book with a romantic twist and we say that, that is not for us, but when a book celebrates us not just crushing, but vocalizing those crushes and moving in to a gray area (they hug but it could be an innocent friend hug) and they make a point to be next to each other, Muslim parents should be aware.  In the larger society it wouldn't even register on the radar, hence I point it out.

Another thing that kind of bothered me and was again related to Jameela and Ali's relationship was that when Jameela cut her hair in support of Bisma losing hers with chemo treatments, she seems to need Ali's approval.  I get that she wanted him to see her and all that, but I really wanted her to be strong enough in and of her self that even if she looked awful she would own it and not let it define her and not let a boy's opinion about her physical appearance weigh that heavily on her.  Again I know 4th grade girls start noticing boys and having crushes and middle school is only worse, but I just was hoping that her strength and confidence would come from her own growth arc, not from someone else, let alone someone she likes. Side-note here too about the hair, it is donated to make a wig, which I know might also be a sensitive subject regarding if that is allowed in Islam or not.

In terms of the cancer and the sister's rallying together all that I thoroughly enjoyed and found the most interesting passages in the book.  I think the understanding of a real subject and finding a way to help and deal with this was executed expertly and powerfully without sensationalizing the concern or simplifying the experience either.

FLAGS:

The book is clean, but there is a lot of mention of how Ali affects the girls.  And potentially depending your own opinions on the hair being donated.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I wouldn't do this as a book club book, I'm actually hesitant in even recommending it to my 12 year old daughter.  I know she has read worse, but again me handing her a book about Muslim girls might make her understanding of what we expect regarding boy/girl interactions to be a bit muddled.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

More to the Story by Hena Khan is a modern-retelling of Little Women. The main characters, Jameela, Maryam, Bisma, and Aleeza, correspond to the main characters of Little Women, just updated for the 2019. 

Most middle grade readers who read this will not be familiar with Little Women, and the story holds its own without knowing references to the source material. Additionally, because this is a Muslim family, it begins on Eid instead of Christmas which is nice touch. 

Jameela is entering 7th grade, and she learns that she'll be the features editor for the school newspaper. But as this is happening, some other things in her life fall apart. Her Baba (father) must go overseas for six months to do contract work after his previous contract suddenly ends. She's worried about her family's finances as well as missing her father. And through this all, she's still a 7th grader which means fights with her sisters. She also faces conflicts at school, some standard disagreement and some more serious microaggressions. 

As she begins to write her first big article, she learns a hard lesson about journalistic integrity while her younger sister Bisma faces some health troubles. She must learn how to truly use her words for good. 

The story was charming, and it holds its own without knowing the source material. (While I did read Little Women, I tried reading it when I was 8, and I don't remember a whole lot of the plot.) The modern-retelling will appeal to young readers. 

More To the Story releases on September 3, 2019.

I received this ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book, from the author of Amina's Voice, follows Jameela as she and her family navigate some challenges at home while she works at school toward her goal of becoming a journalist. I enjoyed all the characters in this story and felt that they were the strongest part of this novel, which I enjoyed.