Grounded

Description:

Four kids meet at an airport for one unforgettable night in this middle-grade novel by four bestselling and award-winning authors--Aisha Saeed, Huda Al-Marashi, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, and S. K. Ali.

When a thunderstorm grounds all flights following a huge Muslim convention, four unlikely kids are thrown together. Told in alternating points of view, Grounded tells the story of a night that will change these kids forever.

* Feek is stuck babysitting his younger sister, but he'd rather be writing a poem that's good enough for his dad, a famous poet and rapper.
* Hanna is intent on finding a lost cat in the airport--and also on avoiding a conversation with her dad about him possibly remarrying.
* Sami is struggling with his anxiety and worried that he'll miss the karate tournament that he's trained so hard for.
* And Nora has to deal with the pressure of being the daughter of a prominent congresswoman, when all she really wants to do is make fun NokNok videos.

These kids don't seem to have much in common--yet.

A Walter Award Honor Book

Brief description: Aisha Saeed is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of books for children. Her middle-grade novel Amal Unbound received multiple starred reviews and was a Global Read Aloud for 2018. Her picture book, Bilal Cooks Daal, received an APALA honor, and she was the co-editor of the critically acclaimed Once Upon an Eid. Aisha is also a founding member of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books(TM). She lives in Atlanta with her family.

Review Quotes: "This is more than a cute kitty caper with humorous airport antics: it's a thought-provoking adventure about growing up and the need for individuality, independence, and autonomy."-- "The Horn Book Magazine"