Amina's Song by Hena Khan is an excellent story of a young girl that gives one hope for humanity and the future. This is the follow up from the amazing first novel, Amina's Voice.

Here we get to see Amina experience her roots in Pakistan, find herself amongst her family and their origins. She experiences self-doubt and uncertainty when presenting her family's history and their nationality/origins when she has given a presentation back at home in her school and finds that helping others opening up their preconceived opinions and notions to new experiences is easier said then done.

I really like Amina. She is a breath of fresh air and I enjoyed seeing her mature and transform throughout these two books. These are great not just for middle school/young adult readers, but for readers of any age looking for a new voice and a source of hope and optimism.

An excellent read.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.

This book was fantastic a a must read for middle grades. It is a great companion to Amina's voice but could be easily read as a stand alone book and be very impactful for the reader. Amina travels to Pakistan to visit her extended family and falls in love with the country and culture. She also realizes that is not what she thought it would be. She makes a promise to her uncle to show people in America about her culture and the beauty of Pakistan. When she arrives back in America, she feels different and can't really figure out why. She struggles with her complex identity and how to showcase Pakistani culture to her American friends. She finds a way to do this through a song that she wrote and sang. The book shows not only the beauty of Pakistan and the Muslim faith but the complexity of all cultures, including America. It will give readers a deeper understanding of this culture and faith and hopefully open the minds of many.

I have many Pakistani-American students who loved Amina’s Voice and this book will address some of the concerns they share about wanting to show the beauty of Pakistan to their American peers when often only the negative is presented. I’m a big fan of Hena Khan and am so happy she writes for middle grade students.

When Amina returns home from her vacation in Pakistan, she is brimming with pride for her country and wants everyone else to know it. When she’s assigned homework where you have to choose an important figure, she chooses to represent Malala Yousafzai, but everyone can only focus on the horror that occurred. Once again, Amina must speak up to use her voice speak up, and hopefully, no one will drown her out.

I found Amina’s Song really endearing. Hena Khan wonderfully captures the beautiful connection between the home of her parent’s, Pakistan, and the home where she lives, the US. Amina really works hard to send a message to her classmates about unifying different parts of ourselves. The way its written evokes a lot of heart and emotion that will make this book a perfect series to buy for middle-grade readers.

Amina is a wonderful character, with so much compassion and love for the people around her, in both her communities and the story’s main conflict is her wanting to share her Pakistani side with her American side, but it doesn’t go the way she planned. This story is also a wake-up call, not only for Amina but her peers around her as she aims to help them question their understanding of the world beyond their borders. Amina, herself, admits she had second-guessed Pakistan herself before visiting but returns with a new-found appreciation. She’s determined to let her peers see the cultural value of Pakistan that wasn’t sourced from negative media. Amina isn’t Amina without music, so as a side plot, she ends up befriending new boy Nico and they come together to work on music production. Everyone around her immediately assumes it’s a romance and she’s clearly frustrated because all she wants is a friend.

In this follow-up to Amina’s Voice, Amina yearns to showcase her love for Pakistan with her American community. Using her passion for music, she makes it her mission to change everyone’s tune. A delightful companion novel that I would highly recommend to younger readers!

What a lovely follow-up to Amina's Voice! Amina visits her family in Pakistan where she embraces her traditions and heritage. Upon her return to the United States, she is torn between the two cultures and her story of self-discovery begins.
Amina promises her uncle, upon leaving, to relay the beauty of Pakistan to her counterparts in the United States. She hopes to accomplish this through a special school project called the Living Wax Museum. Each year, my elementary school does that exact assignment. It is so educational and fun at the same time. Each students selects a famous person who is has contributed to society. In the book, Amina selected figures from Pakistan.
Her first choice to bring awareness of was Malala, a remarkable young woman from Pakistan of immense strength.
Her growth throughout the book as she struggles with friendship, boys, and self-confidence all contribute to a story that will appeal to older elementary and middle-school students. Great read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book.

I enjoyed Amina once again and her struggle to figure how she fits between two cultures and two worlds. I appreciated her desire and willingness to help others see the beauty of Pakistan, and too to show her family the wonderful things about the United States.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-ARC of this book. I enjoyed this book just as much a maybe even a little more than the first book, Amina's Voice. I liked that it delved deeper into Amina's story. This book does a wonderful job of building on the first. We get to know even more about her, her family, and her friends. We also meet some new characters. I like that we get to know even more about Pakistan and Amina's culture. I also like that we feel even more of a sense of community from the characters. I think it also helps readers learn more about Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai, and even other important Pakistani women.

(scheduled on my blog in a MG book rec post)
This was a wonderful story filled with relatable diaspora experiences of grappling with your heritage and how it affects your identity -- despite being from a different cultural background myself, I could really identify with how strongly Amina was affected by her experiences in Pakistan, and how it lingered with her when she went back to America
I liked some of the small moments of challenging people's assumptions throughout the story -- Zohra, Amina's cousin, explains how she'd prefer to live in Pakistan near her family and help her family there rather than live somewhere like America where they'd be discriminated against; how people in the US and the West may know little about the accomplished and inspiring people from in the Global South
In the first book, Amina's Voice, Amina's friendship with Soojin and Emily go through strained moments -- seing them so happy together here was a delight
I can see this being a really inspiring book for its target audience of readers, encouraging them to think beyond themselves in terms of their community. I loved the emphasis on Amina's passion for music and how she uses this to uplift and help others.

Amina has a great message for all of us. Just like every middle schooler, she has a lot going on. She deals with changing friendships, school assignments, and family issues. I hope everyone reads this book!

This is the sequel to Amina’s Voice which I read in 2017 and absolutely LOVED. Amina learns so much about herself and her culture. She goes on vacation to visit her family in Pakistan and is so sad to leave. Pakistan holds a special place in her heart. Her Baba told her to share her love for Pakistan to her American friends, and she soon realizes that when she’s back in the States that no one wants to listen about her beautiful country. Amina deals with worry from back home about her Baba and her cousin, yet she feels like she isn't holding her promise she made to her Baba. In class she's supposed to give a presentation on a person who has impacted the world. When she decides on focusing on Malala Yousafzai, her classmates can only focus on the negatives. She knows she needs to share how beautiful Pakistan really is, so her presentation ends up changing last second even if it may risk her getting a bad grade. A beautiful sequel that many middle grade readers will love!

I think the quote that wraps up this whole book for me is one that Amina thinks about both herself and the refugees that she and her family are helping.

<blockquote><em>What if your heart still lives somewhere else?</em></blockquote>

Amina has just come back from visiting cousins in Pakistan, and one thing they have asked her is to let her American friends know what Pakistan is really about. And for a while, Amina feels she is in two places at once, here in America and with her cousins in Pakistan.

What really brings it home for her is when she is helping, with others in her mosque, to set up an apartment for refugees from Afghanistan, that are trying to be welcomed into the neighborhood.

This is a great story about how we can all serve others, and make people feel welcome when they have no home. It is not heavy hitting, and instead wraps the story around other things.

This is a sweet story, the second in the series, that is also a stand alone.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

What happens when you want to share your experiences with your friends, but they don’t seem to listen or hear? That’s exactly Amina’s experience when she returns to the US after her time in Pakistan with her uncle, aunt, and cousins. Her beloved uncle extracted a promise from Amina that she would help Americans understand Pakistan better. She hopes the project her teacher assigns will help her do just that. Will Amina be able to get her message across in spite of her friends’ and classmates’ preconceived opinions of Pakistan?

Amina’s growth and strength are inspiring as she struggles with her friends, school, and her uncle’s illness. I look forward to recommending this book to my middle school anti racism and more book club. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Amina's Song by Hena Khan was amazing. It makes me want to go to Pakistan and experience Amina's culture and country firsthand. The book begins with Amina visiting her uncle, aunt, and cousins in Pakistan. It is the first time (that she can remember) that she has been there. She had initially been filled with some trepidation after hearing news reports on the violence and turmoil in the region, but her experience was very different. When it was time for her to leave, her uncle, had Amina promise, to share this new vision of Pakistan with the world. Amina, feeling a bit like she is having an identity crisis, struggles with how to do this. Read the book to find out how she accomplishes this in her unique way.

The second book in the Amina's Voice series begins as Amina is finishing her trip to Pakistan, and she's excited to share her experiences with her friends once she returns back home. They don't seem interested, however, and when she does a school project on Malala Yousafzai, her classmates focus on the negative parts of the story instead of seeing Pakistan for the beauty of it that is in Amina's eyes.

Hena Khan once again hits it out of the middle grade genre ballpark with AMINA'S SONG. Khan is a prolific children's book writer but her middle grade novels, notably MORE TO THE STORY, are my absolute favorites.
With AMINA'S SONG, Khan takes readers- especially those of South Asian or Islamic heritage like me- into a nostalgic childhood trip to Lahore with cousins, Pakistani treats and exquisite jewelry.
I literally have a cousin from Lahore named Amna, and I have wonderful memories of hanging out with my hospitable relatives there, even touring the famous masjid. So Khan is so on point with this story!
The highlight is her inclusion of female Pakistani superstars, which is so important to show how ambitious and educated Pakistani women actually are.

So I salute Khan for writing this lovely middle grade sequel, that can easily be read with or without reading the first in the series (I have not read it).

Thank you so much Simon & Schuster (Lisa) for continuing to positively represent Muslim women, and NetGalley for this e-ARC!

Amina's Song is a wonderful sequel to Amina's Voice. Amina is able to travel and meet a lot of her family in Pakistan. She experiences a cultural she has grown up hearing about and then falls in love with. Her uncle gives her a mission as she returns home and Amina struggles to carry it out. It's a powerful story and I could not put it down!

In this follow-up to the popular middle grade novel Amina's Voice, Amina is now in seventh grade. As her family concludes a month-long trip to visit relatives in Pakistan, Amina finds herself torn between feeling proud to be an American as well as taking pride in her Pakistani heritage. Will she have room in her heart for both? Will Amina be able to put her conflicting feelings into words to share with others? A new friend in drama club might just help her figure everything out. This book is a thought-provoking depiction of the way multiple cultures can blend to make something unique and beautiful. It would be an excellent addition to any middle grade or middle school fiction collection.

This middle grades companion book to Amina's Voice, reads in much of the same way as a lot of Hena Khan books in that I feel she is presenting Pakistani Muslims in America to non Pakistani non Muslims in the west.  In the first quarter or so of this 288 page book that takes place in Lahore,  I felt a different tone than really spoke to me. Granted I am (half) Pakistani and Muslim, but when Amina says good-bye to her family, I was in tears.  It was relatable and powerful and so real to me that I got emotional, the rest of the book, sadly, not so much.  It's not to say that it isn't well written, I just feel like the majority of the book are borderline issues for many Muslims looking to see themselves in literature: music, school dances, boy/girl friendships, and when presented that a religious family is permitting and celebrating of these issues, it seems to be trying to make us fit in, rather than support us for holding to a different perspective.  There is a lot of good in the book about finding your voice, sibling and family relationships, friends, and challenging stereotypes, that I think the book would be great for some 3rd graders and up.  However, if your family is against the aforementioned potential flags you may find the book that talks about reading Quran and praying makes the characters harder to separate from your own kids, you may want to hold back in recommending it to them.  Don't get me wrong the book is clean and well done, I just know from personal experience that sometimes when characters do things that you family doesn't agree with it is easier to say that those things are for them, not us, but when the family doing them looks a lot like your family, you have to be ready to explain the differences.  

SYNOPSIS:

Amina is in Lahore exploring the city with her brother and cousins.  She is visiting her uncle who had come to visit in Amina's Voice and as the trip comes to an end, she doesn't feel like she is the same person that came to Pakistan a month ago.  She is closer to her older brother Mustafa, she feels connected to her extended family, and she is growing more comfortable with pieces of her self she didn't know existed before.  Excited to go back to America and tell her friends about her summer, she finds they really aren't interested, and she is unsure how to keep her promise to her uncle to show the world the beauty of Pakistan.  

Once school starts, Amina is assigned a wax museum project in Social Studies that requires her to research and present a person that has changed the world.  She picks Malala, but when she explains to her class at a midway check how Malala was shot for going to school, rather than feel inspired, her classmates feel sorrow that Pakistan is so backward and oppressive, the complete opposite of what Amina felt surrounded by such vibrancy and strength while in Pakistan.  Determined to set things right, she reaches out to her cousins and uncle in Pakistan, except her uncle is back in the hospital and worry consumes Amina and her family, who are torn with being so far away from their loved ones. 

At the same time Amina is feeling like her best friends Emily and Soojin are drifting apart.  Emily is in chess club, Soojin is running for class president, and Amina just wants to write music, produce songs and sing.  There is a new kid Nico, who is half Egyptian, and has music computer software that when he offers to help Amina produce music she says yes, and he starts spending a lot of time at Amina's house.   

Friends new and old along with immediate and extended family, love and support Amina and cheer her on as she finds her voice to share the beauty of Pakistan, fight for her friendships, and be content with all her pieces that make her unique.

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love that Amina realizes her culture is more important than following rules and her grade.  She breaks from the assignment to spread light on more strong, brave Pakistani women than just the one, and is ok with her grade suffering as a result.  I love that she realizes the headlines don't reveal reality and that you have to see more than one side to the story.  I love that she is religious and that the imam is cool and that her whole family is service oriented and compassionate.  I love that her friends are diverse and their families are close friends as well.  The sense of community established is carried over from the first book, and I think it gives the book a level of comfort that is pure and honest.

I have issues with Amina's family being ok with her going to the school dance.  She goes with her female friends, but to me it seems like a conversation is missing or she shouldn't be going.  It is mentioned that Mustafa went alone to a high school dance, but never explains why.  Similarly, Amina is nervous about having Nico over and her family at times is bothered by it, but again it never specifies why.  I feel like if there was a conversation about why her family would be weird about it or why she is nervous to tell her mom that the friend coming over is a boy then when Amina reminds her mom that her best friend in kindergarten was a boy and everyone was fine with it, or that when her mom asks if there is anything more than friendship going on, the reader would know why it is such a big deal.  It seems to skip the explanation part and jumps from the nervous to have a boy who is a friend, to defending the friend being a boy, and skip the why part.

I didn't get why Nico identifies as Muslim and Christian but never says salam, and I especially didn't get why Amina's mom was more relaxed when she thought he might be Muslim.

I also wish that after the whole emphasis on music, that the lyrics would have at least been shared. I was looking forward to it and was let down by it not being shared.

FLAGS:
Nothing blatant.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION: 

I don't think that this would work level wise or content wise for a middle school Islamic school book club.

Amina's Song begins in Pakistan. Amina loves visiting her extended family, especially her cousin Zohra, and trying to learn more Urdu. She feels such heartbreak at leaving Pakistan, and wants to tell everyone in America about Pakistan. When Amina introduces Malala Yousafzai to her classmates, she wants them to see that Pakistan has amazing people, too. However, her classmates claim that girls don't have rights in Pakistan and that they are lucky to not live there. Amina befriends a new classmate, Nico and deals with the pressure to be romantically involved, though she only wants to remain friends. Amina's Song asks and answers the questions of belonging, friendships, and how to cope with faraway family. 5/5 stars.

I loved reading Amina’s Voice and was so eager to continue reading about her. I was not disappointed! It started with Amina and her family visiting their extended family in Pakistan. I loved reading this part of the story and visualizing their experiences.

She comes back to the US and wants to share her amazing experiences with her friends, but doesn’t feel as though she’s able to share. No one seems to fully listen. The school year starts and Amina is assigned a school project. She chooses to do hers on Malala Yousafzai to help teach others about someone important from Pakistan who has contributed to the world. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go the way it hoped. I won’t spoil it, but I will say I absolutely loved Amina’s solution!