Are there any safe spaces where your package could have been left or could it have been delivered to one of you neighbours. Siblings Ben and Bella live under constant Visigoth scrutiny, forced to live a double life of secrets and deception. My teen and tween son couldn’t get past 38 pages or so, and I’ve asked around and no one I know that started the book, finished it. The first few pages grip you, the last 50 bring it all together, but the middle 250 were hit and miss in this lower YA/upper MG book.

I don’t know that I could get middle school students to read the book for a book club, it would have to be motivated by a grade to get through it in a classroom setting I’m afraid. I love that the book is clean, although, I do wonder if more information about Lady Florinda would have helped the reader understand her father’s desperation, I do understand the vagueness, but it is a glaring omission that keeps the reader curious.

Depending on the nature of the fault, we may ask for you to send the faulty item straight to the manufacturer, who has the ability to repair and replace the item. Jacob, captured in Julian’s raid on Iberia, is tied up and thrust upon a galley boat bound for North Africa. Jacob, captured in Julian's raid on Iberia, is tied up and thrust upon a galley boat bound for North Africa.

The book would naturally lend itself to the students keeping character journals, the supplements and backmatter would allow for references and insight in to real history, and I think the book would do really well in this set up to connect with the audience. Leaving his sleepy village of Tlemcen, a young Berber, Qasim joins Tariq's men and is swept away on an amazing quest. The summary might make the book seem fast paced, and while it does constantly move forward to a clear destination, it isn’t a “buckle your seatbelt and hang on” type of story. All that aside, I think the book has value, it is just really dry in spots, a lot of spots, and given the vocabulary, the changing narrators, the choppiness between chapters, and the history, it is hard to keep reading or be anxious to pick up once you have put it down. The book opens with two young siblings Ben and Bella, overlooking the coast, dreading their lives under Visigoth oppression, and hiding their Jewish culture and faith.

N. Jalali is an author of works of fiction for older children and YA, from boarding school adventures to her newest adventure packed novel; a historical fiction for Young Adults inspired by real-life historical events of the birth of Muslim Spain.

Filed under 5th grade and up, Historical Fiction, islamic fiction, middle grades, Middle School, Muslim Author, Muslim Character, OWN Voice, ramadan, Uncategorized and tagged 2022, adventure, An Andalus Adventure, Andalus, battle, berbers, boats, clean, Eid, friendship, Historical Fiction, horses, Iberia, Islam, islamic fiction, islamic historical fiction, jews, liberation, Middle School, northern Africa, Oppression, ramadan, S.

The year is 711 CE, 92 years after the Hijra of the Prophetﷺ and seventy-nine years since hisﷺ death. I appreciated the updates on the characters and it showing Muslims and people of other faiths coexisting and being accepting even within families, but the connection to the story was a little lost.