I’ve been searching for an adventure book set on the sea so I was excited to read Sabrena Swept Away. I love how the author sets the stage with a girl and her grandma who is a storyteller. Sabrena knows the stories that run in her blood of the Arabian Nights. Sinbad, the sailor, is a relative!
Sabrena starts finding puddles of water that appear out of nowhere and then a flood outside the school auditorium sweeps her into a grand adventure where she meets others who she needs to help along the way.
This is a fun adventure that takes our main character back in time to a watery world where her grandma’s stories come alive and in which she becomes a hero.
I would have liked this novel to slow down a bit so that I could have become more emotional connected to the main character but if you are looking for a fun adventure at sea, Sabrena Swept Away is a great pick.

I really enjoyed this! Sabrena is having a difficult time at a new school and also dealing with her beloved story-telling grandmother’s decline. Her father claims they are descended from the legendary sailor Sinbad. Her grandmother makes no claims but shows her over and over that they are story tellers and that the sea calls to them. When the sea calls Sabrena she is swept away into the land of One Thousand and One Nights.
Fantastic adventure, great adventure and surprises. I hope there are more stories for Sabrena.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for this DRC.
#SabrenaSweptAway #NetGalley

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC to review! I thought that it was a very quick read that didn't lag in between the pages. I thought that there was good representation for the characters and I enjoyed seeing the myths come to life. I thought that the writing could be improved on.

I really enjoyed this as a descendant of Sinbad the sailor, it uses that concept perfectly and was hooked from the first page. The characters had that charm that I was looking for from this type of book. Karuna Riazi has a strong writing style and had that charm that I was looking for and enjoyed in the genre.

Children's books and middle grade are not normally my bailiwick, but I was hooked by the absolutely stunning cover illustration, and the concept seemed neat, once I read the blurb. I guess we'll see how I do, reviewing a category I have not read in a very long time.

And the book itself in fact proved a fun one, quick-paced and warmhearted right down at its core. Sabrena was a good character, easy to relate to, but not without her flaws or depth. For a bit there, I was worried that she'd turn out to be a bit of a pinball, as others around her inevitably helped her and came to her rescue, but by the time the climax came around, she grew, and boy did she step up!

I enjoyed reading about the Bangladeshi-American Muslim culture Sabrena grew up steeped in, which, of course, tied into growing up on the stories of 1001 Nights. Or at least a kid-friendly version of same. Fun fact: my own family owned the 16-volume unsanitized version, and it was the only book my mom ever forbade me from reading, as an overly precocious tot. Which, of course, made it all the more enticing, but whoooo boy, mom was right, that was NOT for seven year olds! Obviously, this would be way outside the scope of a real-life children's book, but a part of me really wants to read Sabrena's father's perspective on how he might balance nurturing his daughter's love for the stories he's studying, potentially exploring some of their darker elements as part of critical reading, all while being careful not to traumatize her or give her access to something REALLY age-inappropriate.

Going back to the cultural aspect, I think seeing Sabrena and her family in a book like this would be really valuable for either a Muslim kid looking for a character whose life reflects theirs, or a curious young reader from outside the culture. The portrayal is immersive, straightforward without being overly simplistic, and clearly written by someone with personal experience.

But the element of this book I really could not have anticipated when I began was Sabrena's relationship with her grandmother. The empathy and verisimilitude with which it was written was something truly special. The portrayal of an elder with dementia was top-notch, incredibly believable, never sugar-coated, but also never once stripping the character of her humanity, spark, or bond with her family. I was not surprised to read, in the afterword, that Riazi put a lot of her own love for her own grandparents into her writing.

This is a book about stories, but it's also, at its core, a book about families. I was glad to see the warmth of Riazi's familial portrayal extend beyond the nuclear family, to grandparents, adopted families, good stepparents, and former strangers willing to open their homes and hearts to a lost child.

I may not have been this book's target audience, but I still think there's a lot to like here, whether for me, or an actual middle grade reader.

Thank you NetGalley and Greenwillow Books for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.