Samira’s Worst Best Summer
by Nina Hamza
Middle School    Quill Tree/HarperCollins    336 pp.
5/24    9780063024946    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780063024960    $10.99

Thirteen-year-old Samira’s parents and older sister are in India for two weeks for a wedding, leaving her and her younger brother, Imran, at home in Minnesota with their maternal grandmother, Umma. Recovering from an awful seventh-grade year, Sammy hopes the time without her immediate family’s interference will help her cope with the isolation she feels since being targeted by former-best-friend-now-bully Kiera. It is almost certainly Kiera who toilet-papered the tree in their front yard; Imran (who has autism) fixates on Sammy’s offhand remark that they were targeted because they are brown and Muslim. New neighbor Alice seems eager to solve the mystery of who did it—which makes nonconfrontational Sammy deeply uncomfortable. And she is wary of Alice’s overtures of friendship, especially when Kiera tries to interfere. The protagonist is a relatable character; as an awkward middle child, she both craves and pushes away attention. Hamza tackles cultural diversity and prejudice with nuance, showing both overt occurrences of prejudice and microaggressions. The story features allies of different ages and appearances, along with Samira’s own growing advocacy for herself and others.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.