Book Review: Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi

Publisher’s description

This heartfelt coming-of-age novel in verse tells the powerful story of a seventh-grade Syrian American boy and his struggles, big and small, as he navigates middle school.

“As an Arab-American and a football fan, this book spoke directly to me. It’s the exact type of book I would’ve loved, and needed, as a kid. A perfect mix of a fun and enjoyable read, while being an important book, too.” — Jasmine Warga, New York Times bestselling author of and Newbery Honor recipient for Other Words for Home

Seventh grade begins, and Kareem’s already fumbled it.

His best friend moved away, he messed up his tryout for the football team, and because of his heritage, he was voluntold to show the new kid—a Syrian refugee with a thick and embarrassing accent—around school. Just when Kareem thinks his middle school life has imploded, the hotshot QB promises to get Kareem another tryout for the squad. There’s a catch: to secure that chance, Kareem must do something he knows is wrong.

Then, like a surprise blitz, Kareem’s mom returns to Syria to help her family but can’t make it back home. If Kareem could throw a penalty flag on the fouls of his school and home life, it would be for unnecessary roughness.

Kareem is stuck between. Between countries. Between friends, between football, between parents—and between right and wrong. It’s up to him to step up, find his confidence, and navigate the beauty and hope found somewhere in the middle.

Amanda’s thoughts

This book is set in 2016/2017. Kareem, who is Syrian American, would love to be on the middle school football team, but doesn’t make the cut. His classmate Austin, who is the coach’s son, and is also not a nice human at all, gets Kareem to do some of his homework, convincing him that doing so will help him get on the team (Austin will make sure of it). Kareem does one assignment for him, but doesn’t allow Austin to cheat off him and won’t continue to do his homework for him. Austin, who, again, is not nice, steps up his racist taunting, now also targeting new kid Fadi, a Syrian refugee. Kareem’s family is helping Fadi and his family get settled and navigate their new life, but when it comes to standing up for Fadi, Kareem isn’t stepping up. Yet.

While Austin works to make school miserable for Kareem (and Fadi and probably many others), Kareem also has other stressful things going on. His mother has gone to Syria to help bring her parents home with her to America, but this is happening during the early days of Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority countries. No one knows when Kareem’s mom and family will be able to get home, which is especially upsetting given Kareem’s grandfather’s bad health. Kareem is also getting into some trouble at school as he is forced to contend with Austin’s garbage and learns to stand up for himself and others. It seems like everyone is mad at him for something, and the guilt he begins to feel over what’s happening with his family trapped in Syria is overwhelming. He wants to take action, and thankfully some opportunities to do so begin to take shape, making him feel involved, proud, and even hopeful.

It takes some work, but Kareem, who has felt so stuck in-between things—both American and Syrian, but not sure he’s enough of either, a kid who speaks Arab-ish (his word for the in-between language he uses, wanting to go with the flow and stay under the radar while increasingly wanting to speak up and do what’s right—begins to embrace all the sides of himself, realizing that in-between doesn’t actually have to mean stuck or somehow less-than. It’s so hard for him to be processing all of this with his mother gone (for who knows how long) and his father caring for the family while also juggling his own powerful emotions over what is happening under Trump’s rule. Austin may feel emboldened by Trump’s hateful policies, but eventually Kareem is able to be emboldened and inspired by the reactions he’s seeing against those policies and actions.

Told in verse and full of references to books Kareem has read, this is a beautiful story of hope, empathy, confidence, and courage. The sports angle may be a good hook to draw in readers who may not necessarily initially gravitate toward a novel in verse or one that tackles (see what I did there?) such serious subject matter.

A great read.

Review copy (ARC) from the publisher

ISBN-13: 9780593699263
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: 09/10/2024
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

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