The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan

May 1, 2022
A Dubai sixth grader finds her life and plans upended when the Gulf War breaks out and her family decides to change course. Pakistani 11-year-old Mona Hasan has big plans for the new year. It's January 1991, and among her resolutions are no longer rolling her eyes behind her parents' backs and being nicer to her little sister. She is also super curious about boys, her changing body, and the popular new girl at school. Mona pours her feelings about all these things into her diary, often writing poems about the events of the day. When Iraq invades Kuwait, her parents begin whispering about immigration, a new word she looks up--and is not pleased to learn about. The text takes readers from Dubai, on a visit to Pakistan, and then eventually to Canada, where the family settles in a small Nova Scotia town. Mona is reading Sue Townsend's The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4, which this work is clearly a tribute to. Hussain effectively captures the tone and format of the original classic: Mona's diary entries and poems are often quite moving and unintentionally hilarious. However, the book's many topics, including a creepy family friend and the boy who is Mona's first crush, at times feel underdeveloped. Mona's story is at its strongest when she's describing the intricacies of life in Dubai and the cultures and religions of its diverse populations. An ambitious novel that is both heartfelt and tongue-in-cheek. (Fiction. 10-14)

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June 20, 2022
Twelve-year-old Pakistani Muslim Mona Hasan, who lives in Dubai, has big resolutions for 1991—such as not rolling her eyes behind her parents’ back, and saving someone from danger—all of which she chronicles in her diary. “Nothing exciting ever happens in the UAE, but there is bad news happening all around us,” Mona writes in a January entry and, by February, Americans have invaded and dropped bombs in Iraq, before subsequently departing. Believing that the first Gulf War is over (“except for a few chips and cracks, everything’s back to normal”), Mona busies herself with pining for her crush, Waleed (a February entry features only his name, written 74 times), and trying to navigate puberty, until she overhears her parents discussing leaving the U.A.E. to avoid a shifting regime. Drawing on her own lived history, Hussain, who grew up in Dubai and emigrated to Canada as a teenager, touches on weighty topics such as racism, misogyny, and war. Mona’s voice is good-humored, and her diary entries—comprising lists, poems, and letters from supporting characters—amalgamate into a wise and introspective debut. Ages 10–14. Agent: Amy Tompkins, Transatlantic Literary.

July 1, 2022

Gr 5 Up-"All this time, I had thought wars happened in far-off places to far-off people," speaks to the nuanced voice and clarity of Hussain's fictional narrator. Set during Operation Desert Storm in the United Arab Emirates and told in a perspective like Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, this novel for middle grade readers shares the daily thoughts and interactions of Mona, a young Muslim girl. Told over one year, Mona's voice is poignant and optimistic. She makes friends, immigrates with her family to Canada, and falls in love. This book includes excellent vocabulary development, as Mona looks up and explores words such as feminism and retaliation. Upper elementary and middle grade readers will identify with this spunky, thoughtful, 12-year-old heroine. She ends her diary with a class assignment in which she writes, "Even though I've met many great heroes, the primary guiding hero of my life that I'd like to present is myself, Mona Hasan." VERDICT Inspired by Hussain's childhood, the short vignettes of this book are perfect for reluctant readers and may spark conversations about war, Operation Desert Storm, immigration, international affairs, the Muslim religion, and school equality for girls.-Tracey S. Hodges

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