Wishing Upon the Same Stars

by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman

Overview

This powerful and poignant coming-of-age middle grade debut novel follows an Arab American girl named Yasmeen as she moves to San Antonio with her family and navigates finding friendship—and herself. Perfect for fans of Other Words for Home, Front Desk, and American as Paneer Pie.

When twelve-year-old Yasmeen Khoury moves with her family to San Antonio, all she wants to do is fit in. But her classmates in Texas are nothing like her friends in the predominantly Arab neighborhood back in Detroit where she grew up. Almost immediately, Yasmeen feels like the odd girl out, and as she faces middle school mean girls and tries to make new friends, she feels more alone than ever before.

Then Yasmeen meets her neighbor, Ayelet Cohen, a first-generation Israeli American. As the two girls grow closer, Yasmeen is grateful to know someone who understands what it feels like when your parents’ idea of home is half a world away.

But when Yasmeen’s grandmother moves in after her home in Jerusalem is destroyed, Yasmeen and Ayelet must grapple with how much closer the events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are than they’d realized. As Yasmeen begins to develop her own understandings of home, heritage, and most importantly, herself, can the two girls learn there’s more that brings them together than might tear them apart . . . and that peace begins with them?

A 2023 BANK STREET BOOKS BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR!

A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD GOLD STANDARD SELECTION!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063034389
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	436,833
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jacquetta Nammar Feldman loves writing poetry and stories of all kinds. When she’s not curled up with a book or typing at her computer, she can be found hiking the beautiful hills of Austin, Texas, with her husband, two labradoodles, and a Havanese. She earned her B.S. in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin, and she’s currently a candidate for an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Wishing Upon the Same Stars is her debut novel. Please visit her online at jacquettanammarfeldman.com.

Editorial Reviews

This absorbing story compassionately tackles challenging subjects: the immigrant experience, explicit racism, family strife, and the enormity of Palestinian Israeli history. Feldman offers an ultimately optimistic message of hope and a chance for peace in ways both big and small. — Booklist

Many readers will see themselves in Feldman’s debut novel. This valuable title explores an issue rarely discussed in contemporary children’s literature. Highly recommended for middle grade collections. — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2022

Gr 5 Up—The Isreali-Palestinian conflict takes center stage in this middle grade novel. Yasmeen Khoury, an Arab American girl living in Detroit, Michigan, is devastated to hear she and her family will be moving to Texas. Yasmeen is used to her life in Michigan where there are many Arab American families; she has a lot of concerns about her new home, but her biggest worry is fitting in at school. As she feared, Yasmeen feels different and out of place in most of her classes, but she is soon invited to an after-school club called Math Lab. While she is excited about the club, she is worried her parents won't allow her to join: the coach of the club is Mr. Cohen, the father of the Israeli family across the street. Meanwhile, Yasmeen's dad watches the conflict growing worse in Israel, and Yasmeen is finding a new friend in Mr. Cohen's daughter, Ayelet. Can Yasmeen's family and the Cohens get along? Many readers will see themselves in Feldman's debut novel. Yasmeen's thoughts and actions feel authentic, and the friendship between her and Ayelet unfolds hesitantly, as would be expected. The information, thoughts, and feelings relating to the conflict are expertly done, especially for upper elementary readers. At times the plot feels a bit long, as it covers Yasmeen's entire first year in Texas, but readers will likely enjoy her journey. VERDICT This valuable title explores an issue rarely discussed in contemporary children's literature. Highly recommended for middle grade collections.—Lisa Buffi

School Library Journal

2021-11-16
Twelve-year-old Yasmeen Khoury doesn’t want to leave Detroit for San Antonio, Texas.

However, her father’s new job means the whole family is driving across the country to a new home in the suburbs, where all the houses look the same. The daughter of Christian parents—a Palestinian father and Lebanese mother—Yasmeen is no longer surrounded by an Arab community and faces bullying and racist name-calling at school. Meanwhile, Yasmeen’s Baba’s family is losing their home to Israeli expansion in Jerusalem. The Cohens, the Khourys’ new neighbors, are a Jewish Israeli family; Ayelet Cohen is in seventh grade with Yasmeen, and Mr. Cohen is coach of the after-school math club Yasmeen joins. This work, informed by the author’s own life and experiences, tackles many themes around identity, including the histories of Israel and Palestine, anti-Arab racism in the American South, and growing up in immigrant families that are deeply affected by events back home. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is presented as a dispute between two sides who have been equally wronged, and as Yasmeen and Ayelet find themselves trying to make sense of long-standing intergenerational pain symbolized as conflict between their fathers, the book delves into the history of the region, sometimes through intrusive infodumps. Mr. Cohen is portrayed as conciliatory and reasonable; by contrast, Yasmeen’s Baba is shown as explosively angry.

An ambitious novel about home and belonging that longs for more nuance. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

This absorbing story compassionately tackles challenging subjects: the immigrant experience, explicit racism, family strife, and the enormity of Palestinian Israeli history. Feldman offers an ultimately optimistic message of hope and a chance for peace in ways both big and small.

Booklist

This absorbing story compassionately tackles challenging subjects: the immigrant experience, explicit racism, family strife, and the enormity of Palestinian Israeli history. Feldman offers an ultimately optimistic message of hope and a chance for peace in ways both big and small.

Booklist

Narrator Ariana Delawari excels at catching the ups and downs of 12-year-old Yasmeen Khoury, who unwillingly leaves Detroit to move with her parents to San Antonio. Having been embraced by an Arab-American community in Michigan, Yasmeen faces a Texas suburban community in which all the houses and most of the people look the same. Delawari’s narration runs an emotional gamut: joy at finding a first friend, shame and confusion at being bullied by mean girls; triumphing in math class; and floundering in a dance group. Yasmeen also feels the confusion and frustration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a faraway crisis that is brought close to home in this story. Delawari’s portrayal of Yasmeen captures what it means to own your heritage while also finding a place to belong. S.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile

Narrator Ariana Delawari excels at catching the ups and downs of 12-year-old Yasmeen Khoury, who unwillingly leaves Detroit to move with her parents to San Antonio. Having been embraced by an Arab-American community in Michigan, Yasmeen faces a Texas suburban community in which all the houses and most of the people look the same. Delawari’s narration runs an emotional gamut: joy at finding a first friend, shame and confusion at being bullied by mean girls; triumphing in math class; and floundering in a dance group. Yasmeen also feels the confusion and frustration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a faraway crisis that is brought close to home in this story. Delawari’s portrayal of Yasmeen captures what it means to own your heritage while also finding a place to belong. S.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile