Saturday, January 28, 2023

The War to Save the Worlds by Samira Ahmed - ESSENTIAL

The War to Save the Worlds (Amira & Hamza #1) by Samira Ahmed, 356 pages. Little, Brown and Company/Poppy. 2021. $17.

Language: PG (30 swears (God) 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG - monster violence (i.e. green blood) warlike battles, dangerous challenges, peril. 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ESSENTIAL, MS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

12yo Amira and her 10yo brother Hamza are the chosen ones. On a visit to a museum on a special night (Super Moon, Blue Moon Blood Moon - all on the same night) Hamza is drawn to an ancient object, and it begins to work. At the same time, they discover that everyone else is kind of frozen and a group of Jinn arrive on a golden throne and tell the kids that they are the Chosen Ones and are needed to save both their own and the world of the Jinn. 

Exciting and engaging, The War to Save the Worlds is the first in a series. Amira really likes science, and I love how she used that knowledge to work through some of the problems the faced with magic. The kids work with a group of Jinn and other characters from Urdu and Persian stories and myths to stop the moon from coming apart and destroying both worlds. 10yo Hamza was just the perfect little brother turned hero. His character will be highly appealing to 4th-5th graders and gives this big a larger audience. The children are Islamic.

Lisa Librarian

No comments: