I absolutely love Amina. This is the second book following her life as a young Pakistani girl living in America. I learned so much about this culture that I have very little previous knowledge about. I enjoyed getting to travel to Pakistan with Amina and her family. I hope the author continues to write more about Amina’s life.

This book was so sweet and empowering. The perfect read for my students, especially the ones that do't get to see themselves in literature that often.

Amina's song is such a wonderful story! Amina loved visiting her family. Now that she is home and wants to share her vacation with her friends they aren't interested. How can Amina help her friends to see the beauty of her trip?
A fabulous story! Happy reading!!

Synopsis: 14 year old Amina is back to Wisconsin after a trip to Lahore . She finds herself in a chaos, and is in a journey of self discovery. Her narrative on Malala Yousafzai shakes her classmates and gives them a negative perspective on Pakistan. Will she be able to rectify their thoughts and give them the brighter aspects of her home:? Review:
Though pitched as a middle grade contemporary , this book delves into deeper aspects of Islamophobia, blind hatred and identity crisis. The fact that we judge third world countries by the showcased negative news in the western media has been highlighted well. Books like these are the need of the hour. Hope Amina's Song gets the deserving recognition.

Rating: 4/5

Amina's Song follows Amina, a young Pakistani girl as she visits her extended family in Pakistan for summer vacation. Once she returns back to the US to start school, she wishes to share all about her time in Pakistan, but no one seems interested in learning about a country they've only heard is "dangerous" and "violent." Over the course of the book Amina uses her voice to share the beauty of Pakistan and what the country and the people in it mean to her.

This book was such a joy to read! I'm not a huge middle grade reader, but this one just hit all the right marks. From the first few pages as Amina describes her time in Pakistan I felt myself transported to the summers that I would visit my family in India. As things like street foot and bazaars and crowded roads were described I truly felt transported to the country that is as home to me as the US is. I loved the emphasis of questioning identity and what it means to be both American and South Asian. I also appreciated the conversations surrounding the misconceptions and stereotypes people have of non-Eurocentric countries and why those can be harmful to immigrants of those countries. Overall, I think this book captured the beauty of family and identity while dismantling people's notions on what they assume Pakistan is like.

Amina's Song is a companion novel to Amina's Voice, however I don't think it's mandatory to read that one first. I hadn't and I found the story was capable of standing on its own.

An excellent follow-up to Amina's Voice. My students love the first book in this series and as that one takes place in the city where our school is located, it's really fun to make that connection to readers when introducing them to Amina! Definitely purchasing a copy of this latest installment for our library. Amina is lovely as ever and I loved reading about Pakistan through Amina's eyes.

Can we all just take a moment and acknowledge two things - first, this book cover is just so AWESOME I can't even begin to explain my feelings and second, Middle Grade books are the best. Oh and no, the topic isn't up for discussion because these art two indisputable facts. Period.

I cannot begin raving about this book and the fact that this made me antsy to read Amina's Voice is just plan giveaway about how amazing it was. The novel started off in Pakistan and oh my I really wanna visit it someday! But what struck me more was the similarity of events that strangely felt like home. The book was obviously more character driven - we saw how Amina was growing, how she was dealing with the whole not belonging enough to her roots, or identity crisis?, how she was so willing to make a change and contribute her part to the society piece by piece.

But more than that, it felt like a very cute love letter to all the Third World Countries - that their story isn't all about disturbance and violence. Which was such a strong message to be delivered! I know violence, terrorist attacks, displacement etc. aren't something that should be ignored but what's more important is to actively acknowledge the lives present there - the disturbance present in the country is a part of their life, not their whole life. It gave a very strong message that amidst the violence, the achievements should also be taken into account and should be acknowledged so that many others take inspiration from it.

The novel overall was soo short, I really wanted to more about Amina! I hopeee there's one more novel for her story because it is soo beautiful! It threw light upon growing as a person, pursuing dreams, giving to community and omggg it had such an amazing diverse cast! I truly loved it and I cannot waitt to read Amina's Voice (I know the order of the series is wrong but, well, Amina's Song can be very well read as a stand-alone book!). Also, not related, but ig Bollywood movies are pretty famous :p

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of gun violence, destruction of property, poor health, displacement, taliban attacks and instances that can be considered micro-aggressions

An update in Amina's life. In this book, we get to see her travel to Pakistan where her family is from. Totally clean oh, so you can feel comfortable recommending to middle-grade readers. Great to have an Asian-American voice for students.

This book has many aspects. The following being some of them:
1. Representation of Pakistan in Media and how it effects the life of pakistani people.
2. Showcasing the beautiful Pakistani culture.
3. Life of immigrant children and how they feel left out.
4. Showing Pakistani family dynamic and integrated Islamic values in everyday life.
5. Pakistani female role models and how they are an inspiration.

The first thing I have to compliment is the writer's writing style. It's just brilliant how Hena captures the essence of a 13 year old girl's narrative in her writing.

I loved the fact that Amina has a beautiful voice and her family is so supportive about her singing.

The description of Pakistan itself was honestly beautiful. The way the writer described Lahore was so authentic and just magical. The Anarkali Bazaar, the bargaining, the anaar juice and so many meaningful sprinkles of cultures here and there. I have a special connection to Lahore as my Abu Jee spent his childhood there and half my family still lives there. And this book did Lahore justice.

This book also shines light on the social issues in Pakistan and how people are really harsh on our country without knowing anything about it. Pakistan is a beautiful place, and yes, like any other country it has it's problems, but the media is only showing the bad parts only. To every international person who's reading this, please read this book to try to understand a little bit about Pakistan.

I enjoyed Amina’s Song even better than Amina’s Voice!

I loved the friendship that developed between Amina and Nico and very much felt the frustration Amina had when trying to (truthfully) convince people that they were friends and there was no sort of attraction there.

Amina’s feeling of being torn between Pakistan and the US was so well-written and developed throughout. I loved her desire to share the beauty of Pakistan with the people in the US and felt for her when her classmates fixated only on the negative aspects.

I did think there were perhaps too many things trying to happen - the only way we were alerted to the development of several plot threads was by a mention that x or y had already happened with regards to it.

Thanks to Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is the sequel to Amina's Song. I haven't read the first book but I didn't feel left out while reading the sequel. There were mild references but it totally alright to read it as a stand-alone.

Amina is visiting Pakistan in her summer vacations for the first time, she was scared to come after watching all the horrible news on the media But she has fallen in love with everything, places, family and food. She feels connected to everything yet impersonator as she can't speak proper Urdu. Her Taya Jaan, the uncle, asked her to show people, back at home, the beauty of Pakistan and Amina really wants to but looks like no one is much interested.

I love the story and the way Amina's character went through a few things. The story was totally relatable, how people get stuck between two identities and the way media make a certain image about something. It was a perfect Pakistani rep. Hena khan covered everything food, shopping, crazy traffic, family bonding and culture. The way she portrays the successful women of Pakistan along with Malala was such a smart move.

I totally love the book and if you want to read life in Pakistan, it is a perfect choice.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for sharing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Amina’s Voice and wanted more of Amina’s journey of self discovery and this book delivers that so well! It really opened my eyes on how diversity is shown in the education world and how it is perceived-and sometimes good intentions are not received that way. Amina is struggling with her Pakistani identity and how it relates in America. I loved reading her journey.

Amina is such a wonderful character, and she has so much love for those around her. I love the story and Amina's conflict. This is such a great story with such an important message.

Amina's Song is a likable sequel where Amina learns more and shares with readers about her culture and faith, which have caused her to be discriminated against in the past. By gaining more understanding of her people and growing closer to her family in Pakistan, she returns to the US ready to defend herself and educate others. Great for middle grade readers to have an #ownvoices title that isn't focused on a tragic event, but rather a window into the ups and downs of life as a minority tween.

Continuing on Amina's journey in Amina's Song was a fantastically wonderful experience. I'm so grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity and know my students will be thrilled for more Amina!

When we first met Amina, she was struggling to define herself amidst the challenges of middle school, evolving friendships, and family expectations. Now, after an impactful visit with relatives in Pakistan, Amina’s back in Milwaukee and ready to use her voice to raise awareness about the people and places important to her. An empathetic middle grade novel celebrating identity and the communities we make and share.

Amina's Song is a contemporary story that beautifully combines family, culture, and elements of middle school life. I absolutely loved the first book in this duology, Amina's Voice, and enjoyed this follow up just as much. In this book Amina is returning home after a long summer trip visiting family in Pakistan. She is excited to share about her trip when she starts school, but her friends do not seem as interested as she had hoped. She gets the chance to tell her classmates more about Pakistan through a history project where each student is supposed to pick a person who has affected the world in some positive way. Amina chooses Malala Yousafszai for her project since she is from Pakistan. But things don't go as planned when students start to focus only on the negative parts of Malala's story.

I really enjoy Amina as a protagonist because she has so much love for her family, religion, and culture. She also is passionate about music, and I always like to read about a main character who has a hobby that they love. This book is packed full of so many elements of being a kid from creating new friendships, staying on top of school projects, to deciding what extracurriculars to participate in. I also appreciate that this book contains so much detail about her family's culture and religion without over explaining. Meaning that there are times when Urdu words are thrown into conversations without translation or names for Pakistani clothes or foods are used. I like having those elements prevalent in the story and gives me (or middle schoolers) the chance to learn more about the culture through further research outside of the book.

This goes along with an earlier novel: Amina's Voice, but you don't need to have read the first book (but you should- since it's great!) In this story, Amina arrives back in Wisconsin after traveling to Pakistan and longs to tell her American classmates about all the beauty and great places in her homeland. They are pretty resistant to the idea of traveling to a place that is always in the news in a bad way.
I feel like this is another fantastic book for kids to read who may never travel internationally.

I LOVED this follow-up book to Amina’s Voice! Amina has developed a true love of Pakistan during her visit overseas and as she returns to the states, her uncle has given her the challenge of letting her American friends know what Pakistan is really about. Yet sadly, her friends don’t seem all that interested in hearing about her trip. Therefore, she struggles to know how, exactly, to fulfill this challenge. In the meantime, she’s assigned the task of sharing the life of someone important — she is delighted to share her Pakistani hero Malala Yousafzai, even if her presentation doesn’t go exactly the way her teacher hoped. Amina faces continual misunderstandings of her family’s culture and is happy to make a new friend named Nico, who is Egyptian, and who has a musical talent that just might help her meet her uncle’s challenge. The family relationships are simply beautiful in this leg of the story. And Amina is, yet again, met by friendship concerns that she will have to work out in her own way. I’m more than happy to recommend this book and I certainly don’t expect it to stay on the shelves! My thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC.

I enjoyed this heartwarming story of a young girl who wants to change people's perceptions of her parent's hometown Pakistan. This character is such an inspiring teenager who truly cares about others and desires to make a positive impact in her community. She's assigned a project in her history class where she has to present someone that has made a great impact. She chooses Malala because she wants to share some of her Pakistani culture with her American classmates. Quickly she realizes that her classmate's reaction of pity for how women in Pakistan are oppressed is not the reaction she wanted. She knows that in America there is a negative perception of her parent's beloved country and wants to do everything possible to change it. Amina starts journaling her feelings and with a new classmate that has a mutual love for music ends up writing a song that shows her deep love for her country. At the last minute, she unexpectedly switches her project and speaks about various female heroines in Pakistan, which her teacher is not happy with at first, but admits to her that it showed much bravery. She explains that she didn't want others to just see the negative effects of the Taliban in Pakistan. Instead, Amina wanted others to see how much greatness has come out of the country and culture she deeply connected with during her summer visit. This book has a strong sense of family and community. I truly recommend this book for older elementary students. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.