ntroduction by Heavy Medal Award Committee Member Louie Lauer
The 2024 recipient of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, KAREEM BETWEEN by Shifa Saltagi Safadi brings the story of Kareem, a 7th grade boy who feels caught between his Syrian heritage and his desire to be an All-American boy. Using carefully chosen language and often visually expressive poetry, Shafadi provides readers with a coming-of-age story that also looks at the impact of othering in school and community settings. In looking more closely at this novel, there are two particular areas that make this work particularly distinguished: delineation of characters and appropriateness of style.
Shafadi’s use of verse gives readers a personal look into the life of a young man who feels caught in the middle. Voicing and characterization feel authentic for a seventh grade boy and rich details about Kareem’s cultural heritage immerse readers in a world that they may not be familiar with. At the same time, Shafadi builds experiences for her character that many readers will easily relate to. Finding one’s way through adolescence and coming to terms with one’s own identity are all areas young will find connection with. The added dimension of Kareem’s Syrian heritage and how that impacts his ability to feel accepted by his peers is handled in a nuanced and developmentally appropriate manner, playing very naturally into the central theme of the novel.
Most notably is Shafadi’s use of the poetic form. Each poem is grounded in Kareem’s love of football and language, sprinkled with football terminology and figurative language, and often titled with football references that are connected to the content of the poem. This is consistently done throughout and adds value to the story. Visual clues to Kareem’s emotional state are also given through intentional use of line breaks and spacing. The resulting poetry weaves a tightly structured, briskly paced story that is brimming with emotion. Told in such a fresh and unique manner, this timely story is bound to find readership in addition to recognition it has already received.
Heavy Medal Award Committee members and others are now invited to discuss this book further in the Comments section below. Let the Mock Newbery discussion begin!