Thursday, August 22, 2024

Not Yet: The Story of an Unstoppable Skater by Zahra Lari, Hadley Davis and Sara Alfageeh - ESSENTIAL

Not Yet: The Story of an Unstoppable Skater by Zahra Lari and Hadley Davis, illustrated by Sara Alfageeh. BIOGRAPHY PICTURE BOOK. Orchard Books (Scholastic), 2024.  $19. 9781338865202                      

BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: MANY 


Zahra, a young Muslim girl, loves ice skating! It is all she can think about and visualizes herself skating through her cereal. She slides down the halls in her house. She wants to be a figure skater. Her brother says that it is ridiculous because she doesn't know how to skate. Her response- not yet! She doesn't give up on her dream, despite many people in her life who told her it was impossible. Her dad also whispers her mantra- not yet- when someone told her that figure skaters don't look like her. Zahra went on to become the first skater to compete in a hijab.     


I loved this book because of the message it presented. It was girl power all the way! I liked how Zahra used the saying "not yet," for anything that discouraged her in her life. She didn't accept status quo and with the help of her dad, changed it. It was very inspirational and will inspire young kids to follow their dreams.        


Reviewer: A. Criswell, English Language Arts teacher                                                                     


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