Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf - OPTIONAL

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf, 304 pages. Salaam Reads (Simon & Schuster), 2022. $19.

Language: PG13 (22 swears, 1 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Returning to the hotel one year after her best friend’s death in order to compete in the same tournament her friend died playing is almost too much for Najwa (16yo) – even if her therapist says it might give her closure. But Najwa loves Scrabble and the words that have never failed her, especially this past year. Now that she’s here, Najwa is determined to honor her friend by playing in the three-day Scrabble tournament and winning like her friend would have.

I was caught off guard in the first few chapters when foul play became suspected in Trina’s death; all of a sudden, a book I thought was about grief became a book about solving a mystery. The thoughts about Scrabble became my favorite part of the book. I had no idea Scrabble was so relatable and strategic, but I loved how Najwa sees and talks about the game. All the interesting words introduced through the book were pretty cool, but I can’t imagine myself realistically using any of them in conversation.

Najwa and her family are Malaysian and Muslim. With the story set in Malaysia, most of the characters are described as non-white and all of them are at least implied non-white. Alkaf also uses a lot of Malay in the characters’ dialogue. The mature content rating is for suspicious activity, and the violence rating is for death and discussions of murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen