The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf - ADVISABLE

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf, 274 pages. Salaam Press, 2019. $19

 Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (War violence, death, shooting, killing) 

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

 Mealati (Mel) is 16yo and lives in Kuala Lumpur in 1969. She loves music, the Beatles, movies, especially movies with Paul Newman. She loves to go the movies with her best friend. While they are at the movies one evening, a racial riot/war breaks out between the Malays and the Chinese. It is deadly clash, gruesome and horrifying. While looking for her mother in the afermath, she is helped by a Chinese boy, Vince, and his family. To add to the difficulty,Mel suffers from OCD. She believes a Djinn lives inside of her and he is showing her all the gruesome ways her mom will die if Mel doesn't count our patterns fast enough and correctly enough.

 By reading this book I learned about the racial uprising in Malaysia. Mel is strong, and she works with the Djinn, counting like he tells her too, sometimes all night. I felt so bad for her. She is afraid it is all her fault, because she didn't count fast enough or long enough. Mel suffers in so many ways. She works through it as she helps Vince, and keeps looking for her mother. I recommend this book. Great human interest story, and very educational.  

Ellen-Anita LMS