📖 Kareem Between

"Kareem Between" by Shifa Saltagi Safadi is a coming- of- age book about a boy named Kareem's troubles and adventures in middle school. Kareem, who is Syrian-American, fails to make his school's team despite being an avid football fan and player. Even though Kareem was very disappointed his hopes rose when the number one quarterback Austin (who happens to be the coach's son) offered to help Kareem get into next year's squad in return for Kareem doing his projects and homework. Although Kareem agreed, he noticed that Austin was recently being very racist to Kareem and this new Syrian kid named Fadi, calling them "Cereals." Although Kareem wants to stand up to Austin, he doesn't, determined to keep his spot on the team next year. This isn't the only drama Kareem is dealing with because his mom returned to Syria, trying to bring back Kareem's grandma and grandpa; the latter is in bad health conditions. Eventually, the conflict between Kareem and Austin boils into a fight, resulting in both getting detention. Scared of his dad finding out, Kareem hides his phone, causing his dad to miss an important call bringing his mom and grandparents back from Syria. Their flight was delayed for several weeks due to an executive order signed. Now Kareem needs to realize what he's done wrong and take action to improve. I recommend this book because it holds a powerful message: to stand up for what's right no matter what.

《卡里姆的夹缝人生》是一本由希法·萨尔塔吉·萨法迪所著的成长小说,讲述了一个名叫卡里姆的男孩在中学时期经历的烦恼与冒险。卡里姆是叙利亚裔美国人,虽然他热爱橄榄球并且是一名忠实球迷和球员,但却未能进入学校的球队。这让他非常失望。不过,当球队的首发四分卫奥斯汀(也是教练的儿子)提出愿意帮助他进入明年的球队,只要卡里姆帮他做作业和完成项目时,卡里姆的希望又重新燃起。卡里姆虽然同意了这个条件,但他渐渐发现奥斯汀最近开始对他和另一位新来的叙利亚学生法迪表现出明显的种族歧视,甚至称他们为"谷物人"(Cereals,是对"Syrians"的嘲讽)。虽然卡里姆想要反击奥斯汀的不当言行,但为了保住自己明年的球队位置,他还是选择了沉默。然而,这并不是卡里姆唯一要面对的困扰。他的母亲为了接患病的祖父母回美国而回到了叙利亚。最终,卡里姆和奥斯汀之间的矛盾激化为一场斗殴,导致他们双双被留校察看。为了不让父亲知道这件事,卡里姆藏起了手机,结果父亲错过了来自母亲的重要电话——这通电话原本是通知他们即将回美的消息。因为这次错过,祖父母和母亲的返美航班被延误了好几周,而这又是由于一项新的行政命令的签署所致。面对这一切,卡里姆必须反思自己的所作所为,并采取行动让自己变得更好。 我推荐这本书,因为它传达了一个强有力的信息:无论面对什么困难,都应该勇敢地为正义发声。