Zara's Rules

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝟮 𝘁𝗼 𝟰, this is Zara’s story whose popularity is threatened by the arrival of a new girl in the neighbourhood.

But what I truly loved is the way Hena Khan folds in cultural elements such as Naano (grandma) making ‘𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘪’ (a kind of cookies from South Asia, instead of the usual cookies that one knows of) or, the way the siblings figure out Naano’s Urdu (thanks to a few English words interspersed, such as “𝘛𝘝 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘰” – turn off the TV). The ease with which familiar words are woven into the dialogues is just beautiful (for example, Naano exclaims that “sometimes smart girls act 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘻.”) – exactly the way families of South Asian origin would naturally communicate! I believe this clever style of storytelling will appeal to many third culture kids and make them feel validated.

Definitely adding this to my cart!