Author: Hena Khan
Genre: realistic fiction
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The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake
Rating:
 |
| not as good as I wanted it to be |
Summary (provided by publisher): When Jameela Mirza is picked to be feature editor of her middle school newspaper, she’s one step closer to being an award-winning journalist like her late grandfather. The problem is her editor-in-chief keeps shooting down her article ideas. Jameela’s assigned to write about the new boy in school, who has a cool British accent but doesn’t share much, and wonders how she’ll make his story gripping enough to enter into a national media contest.
Jameela, along with her three sisters, is devastated when their father needs to take a job overseas, away from their cozy Georgia home for six months. Missing him makes Jameela determined to write an epic article—one to make her dad extra proud. But when her younger sister gets seriously ill, Jameela’s world turns upside down. And as her hunger for fame looks like it might cost her a blossoming friendship, Jameela questions what matters most, and whether she’s cut out to be a journalist at all...
My opinion: The plot of this book didn't really head any of the places I expected it to go. On the one hand, I like having my expectations subverted. On the other hand, it feels like the plot changed lanes without warning. There were plot elements that were introduced but never resolved. Reading that this was inspired by Little Women certainly adds some context to the plot, but without that background all we have are plot holes. Now, there is some messaging that has a lot of value. Khan introduces the reader to microagressions, to the right way to talk to a seriously ill or grieving person. They'd be better if they'd been integrated naturally into the plot rather than being relayed as instructions by characters.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
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