Her entry begins:This summer I finally read Jacqueline Woodson’s memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming. What a gorgeous, spare, and apt book. I am not one of those who has taken to the novel in verse form which is especially popular in middle grade and YA. I’m something of a conventional, sink into a fictional narrative reader. But I felt myself on a silky ride and was impressed by Woodson’s conjuring magic of ...[read on]About Watched, from the publisher:
Marina Budhos’s extraordinary and timely novel examines what it’s like to grow up under surveillance, something many Americans experience and most Muslim Americans know.Visit Marina Budhos's website.
Naeem is far from the “model teen.” Moving fast in his immigrant neighborhood in Queens is the only way he can outrun the eyes of his hardworking Bangladeshi parents and their gossipy neighbors.Even worse, they’re not the only ones watching. Cameras on poles. Mosques infiltrated. Everyone knows: Be careful what you say and who you say it to. Anyone might be a watcher.
Naeem thinks he can charm his way through anything, until his mistakes catch up with him and the cops offer a dark deal. Naeem sees a way to be a hero—a protector—like the guys in his brother’s comic books. Yet what is a hero? What is a traitor? And where does Naeem belong?
Acclaimed author Marina Budhos delivers a riveting story that’s as vivid and involving as today’s headlines.
My Book, The Movie: Watched.
The Page 69 Test: Watched.
Writers Read: Marina Budhos.
--Marshal Zeringue
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