Disclaimer: I received this e-arc, arc, and finished copy from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Next New Syrian Girl

Author: Ream Shukairy

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Syrian American Muslim MC, Syrian Muslim MC, Syrian Muslim characters, Syrian American Muslim characters

Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, Syrian refugees, Syrian War

Publication Date: March 14, 2023

Genre: YA Contemporary

Age Relevance: 13+ (violence, Islamaphobia, animal death, gore, PTSD, death, parental death, grief, racism, religion, drugs, sexism, romance, illness, cursing, panic attacks, bullying, depression, suicide)

Explanation of Above: There is some violence mentioned in the book in detail, along with some blood gore and the mention of the death of a family’s cat in depiction of the Syrian war as well as death and parental death. There are depictions and mentions of Islamaphobia, racism, and sexism. There are some scenes that show PTSD, grief, depression, and panic attacks. The Islamic religion is shown and mentioned and the detail in the book is beautiful. There are some small references to drugs once. There is a small side plot romance. Illness is mentioned and briefly shown. There are a couple of instances of cursing. There are a couple of small mentions of bullying. There is also a scene where someone who committed suicide is found before death and they are saved.

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 416

Synopsis: Khadija Shami is a Syrian American high school senior raised on boxing and football. Saddled with a monstrous ego and a fierce mother to test it, she dreams of escaping her sheltered life to travel the world with her best friend.

Leene Tahir is a Syrian refugee, doing her best to adjust to the wildly unfamiliar society of a suburban Detroit high school while battling panic attacks and family pressures.

When their worlds collide the result is catastrophic. To Khadija, Leene embodies the tame, dutiful Syrian ideal she's long rebelled against. And to Leene, Khadija is the strong-willed, closed-off American who makes her doubt her place in the world.

But as Khadija digs up Leene’s past, a startling and life-changing discovery forces the two of them closer together. As the girls secretly race to unravel the truth, a friendship slowly and hesitantly begins blooming. Doubts are cast aside as they realize they have more in common than they each expected. What they find takes them on a journey all the way to Jordan, challenging what each knows about the other and herself.

Review: This book was absolutely beautiful. The book is a duel POV narrative between two girls who are so alike but so different at the same time. Khadijah is a Syrian American Muslim girl who is into boxing and is gathering money to travel the world with her best friend… and to also escape her extremely sheltered home. Leene is a Syrian refugee who is just trying to survive America while being the adult for both her and her mom. The two girls live at the same house when Khadija’s mother hosts Leene and her mother and, though it takes some time, the girls start to bond over their mutual interests. However, their friendship is put to the test when Leene finds a photo online that might lead to reunification between a lost family member she thought was dead. The book was expertly written and the two voices felt so different but the same at the same time. The characters were wonderfully developed and the world building was magnificent. The book offers a lot of insight into the Syrian refugee crisis and I think it should be a must read for high schoolers.

The only issue I had with the book is that the pacing felt a little slow until the very end, then things started to really pick up. Realistically, I think the author could have went another 100 pages or so with the amount of detail that she added.

Verdict: I highly recommend this one!