Not So Shy

by Noa Nimrodi

Overview

Twelve-year-old Shai hates everything about moving to America from Israel.

She's determined to come up with a plan that will get her back home. Maybe she can go back with her grandparents when they come to visit. Or maybe she can win a drawing competition that offers a plane ticket to any destination in the world as the grand prize. Meanwhile she's stuck navigating seventh grade in a language that used to be just a subject in school. As Shai faces antisemitism but also gains support from unexpected sources, she starts to see her new life with different eyes. Maybe home is a place in the heart.

A Sydney Taylor Honor Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728427928
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/04/2023
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	655,937
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.66(d)
Age Range:	8 - 9 Years

About the Author

Noa Nimrodi was born in Jerusalem and grew up moving back-and-forth between Israel and USA. Her novels have been published in both Hebrew and English. When not writing, Noa can be found reading a variety of genres, creating all sorts of art, and running on the beach, with or without her dogs, in Carlsbad, California.

Editorial Reviews

"Noa Nimrodi explores both uni­ver­sal themes of alien­ation and the spe­cif­ic chal­lenges that Israelis might con­front when accli­mat­ing to a new cul­ture...Read­ers will empathize with Shai's dis­tress."―Jewish Book Council

From the Publisher

2023-01-12
Shai is angry at her father for uprooting their family from Israel to the United States for his new job.

Her inadequate command of English makes her feel stupid. Even her name causes difficulties, for Americans pronounce it Shay, when it should be said like shy. Comparing her life in San Diego to Israel, Shai finds almost everything here less appealing. She is determined to devise a plan to return to Israel, perhaps by using her artistic talents to win an art competition—first prize is an international flight! Fortunately, Shai develops friendships with Korean American neighbor Kay-Lee, Iraqi American Muslim Hakim, and cute, nerdy, default White Chris. At school, however, bullies escalate antisemitic and Islamophobic remarks and incidents, causing deep pain and anguish, and the kids are afraid to speak out and report them, even to parents. A visit from Shai’s beloved maternal grandparents, Saba and Safta, provides some insights and advice but also provokes many more questions. When a terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv gravely injures Safta, everything changes, including Shai’s perspective on the meaning of home. Readers follow blue-eyed Shai’s every thought and emotion as she narrates her own tale in descriptive detail with great attention paid to holidays and wonderful food. The storyline occasionally features awkward, unexplained jumps in time, but Nimrodi tackles difficult subjects with a hopeful, uplifting outlook.

Touching, tender, and heartbreaking. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews