Amina's Voice by Hena Khan

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she’s in middle school everything feels different. Soojin is suddenly hanging out with Emily, one of the “cool” girls in the class, and even talking about changing her name to something more “American.” Does Amina need to start changing too? Or hiding who she is to fit in? While Amina grapples with these questions, she is devastated when her local mosque is vandalized.

Amina’s Voice brings to life the joys and challenges of a young Pakistani American and highlights the many ways in which one girl’s voice can help bring a diverse community together to love and support each other.

Book description from https://www.henakhan.com/amina-release

Snacks

• Cans of lemonade (page 45: "I grab my paper plate and a can of lemonade.")

• Gumballs (page 40: "Rabiya darts inside and grabs a fistful of gum balls.")

• Dried fruit and nuts (page 166: The adults "mindlessly chewed on tea biscuits and dried fruit and nuts.")

Activities

• Mosque art -- I printed and cut out the mosque printable pattern. The girls used a pencil to trace the outline on a piece of black construction paper. They used chalk to color around the mosque and a cotton ball to smear the chalk.

• Friendship bracelet -- I got 7 different colors of embroidery floss, measured out about 20 inches of each, put them together, and tied a knot on one end. Then I made a cardboard circle out of a cereal box and divided it into 8 sections. I cut a small slit into the line marking each section and used a pencil to punch a hole through the middle. I pushed the embroidery floss knot through the bottom. Then the girls placed one color string into each slit until it looks like a jellyfish. We then followed the instructions here or here to make a friendship bracelet.