Shahana: Through My Eyes

Gr 6–8—In present-day Azad Kashmir, 14-year-old Shahana is trying to care for her nine-year-old brother Tanveer, earning money from her skillful embroidery after war and illness have claimed the rest of their family and destroyed their school. When the two find an unconscious boy near the Line of Control, they bring him home, nurse him back to health, and protect him from Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants, including the benevolent Amaan, by claiming that Zahid is their older brother. Their tenuous situation is exploited by a ruthless merchant, Mr. Nadir, who threatens to report them to authorities unless Shahana consents to an arranged marriage to the highest bidder and to sending Tanveer to work in a rug factory. Hope glimmers with the reappearance of Shahana's friend Ayesa, who has been in seclusion with her mother, a half-widow since the disappearance of her husband. Ayesha, who has a computer, shows Shahana a way to get her story out to the world, but when Tanveer disappears, Shahana becomes desperate to rescue him from what she believes is his captivity. Part of a series about children living in the world's conflict zones, this volume is engrossing, and readers will empathize with the characters and their situations, even Amaan's ambivalence over participating in jihad. The narrative is enhanced and made more accessible by means of a map, author's note, and glossary.