Saving Kabul Corner

Description: Twelve-year-old Ariana, a tomboy, and her ladylike cousin Laila, recently arrived from Afghanistan, do not get along but they pull together when a rival Afghani grocery store opens, rekindling an old family feud and threatening their family's livelihood.

Brief description: N. H. Senzai is the author of the acclaimed Shooting Kabul, which was on numerous state award lists and an NPR Backseat Book Club Pick. Its companion, Saving Kabul Corner, was nominated for an Edgar Award. While her first two books are based in part on husband's experience fleeing Soviet-controlled Afghanistan in the 1970s, her third, Ticket to India, is based on her own family's history. She is also the author of Escape from Aleppo. Ms. Senzai lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit her online at NHSenzai.com.

Review Quotes: SAVING KABUL CORNER
Author: N.H. Senzai

Review Issue Date: December 15, 2013
Online Publish Date: December 1, 2013
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Pages: 288
Price ( Hardcover ): $16.99
Publication Date: February 4, 2014
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-4424-8494-8
Category: Fiction

The arrival of a rival Afghani food market at the same California shopping plaza as the Shinwari family's already established store brings with it the threat of an awakened family feud.

Eleven-year-old Ariana Shinwari feels klutzy and inadequate next to her almost-12-year-old perfect cousin, Laila, who has moved in with Ariana's family after fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, leaving her father, a translator for the American Army, behind. And now it looks like Ariana's best friend, Mariam, who also fled Afghanistan with her family, has all of her classes with Laila. But when strange things start to happen at both Kabul Corner and the upstart Pamir Market, schoolgirl conflicts give way to collaboration among Ariana, Laila, Mariam and Wali, the son of the new store's owner. Senzai successfully weaves the dynamics of Afghan culture, history and political wranglings into a classically American mystery story, unraveling who and what are really at the heart of the conflict between the two Afghani grocery stores. Readers will appreciate that young people solve all of the questions at hand and ultimately bring the two families together.

An engaging mystery--that it's about Afghani families struggling and surviving in America is a plus. (Fiction. 8-12)-- "Kirkus Reviews"