books:

	Ask Me No Questions Marina Budhos Ginee Seo Books, 2006 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

But of course nothing is the same. Nadira and Aisha live in fear they'll have to return to a Bangladesh they hardly know. Aisha, always the responsible one, falls apart. It's up to Nadira to find a way to bring her family back together again.

Critically acclaimed author Marina Budhos has given us a searing portrait of contemporary America in the days of terrorism, orange alerts, and the Patriot Act, and a moving and important story about something most people take for granted -- citizenship and acceptance in their country.

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Richie's Picks: ASK ME NO QUESTIONS

"...And it's a story, ladies and gentlemen, that I didn't read in a book, or
learn in a classroom. I saw it and lived it, like many of you. I watched a
small man with thick calluses on both his hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I
saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came
here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed
to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example. I
learned about our kind of democracy from my father. And I learned about our
obligation to each other from him and from my mother. They asked only for a
chance to work and to make the world better for their children, and they -- they
asked to be protected in those moments when they would not be able to
protect themselves. This nation and this nation's government did that for them.
"And that they were able to build a family and live in dignity and see one
of their children go from behind their little grocery store in South Jamaica
on the other side of the tracks where he was born, to occupy the highest seat,
in the greatest State, in the greatest nation, in the only world we know, is
an ineffably beautiful tribute to the democratic process..."
--Mario Cuomo, from his keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National
Convention.

So here we are, counting down the days leading up to the fifth anniversary
of 9/11. For some of us who are in the fortunate position of having had
ancestors come to America a century or more before, and who recognize that good
fortune, such commemorations heighten the recognition that we sit today in
collective judgment as to whether those currently outside our borders (or
illegally within our borders), who dream the same dreams our forebears did, should
be permitted similar opportunities as those from which we benefit.

"I like the shores of America!
Comfort is yours in America!
Knobs on the doors in America,
Wall-to-wall floors in America!"
-- Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, America from West Side Story
(1957)

Of course, many would say, the world of my own immigrant Sicilian
grandparents was a different world -- different circumstances. And they would be
right. My grandmother arrived by boat with her siblings and parents a few years
before the Wright brothers' first successful flight; my grandfather sailed
from Palermo a few years after Kitty Hawk became a household name. Now the sort
of aircraft that Wilbur and Orville could never have imagined in their
wildest dreams have been used to change the world forever.
But what of those people who, like my grandparents, have done their best in
today's world to make those American dreams come true for their own children,
even if their efforts aren't always one hundred percent legal? Where does
the crackdown that 9/11 spawned leave them?

I expect that this will be a potentially frightening week for anyone in
America who is Muslim or who might be mistaken for being Muslim.

"The thing is, we've always lived this way -- floating, not sure where we
belong. In the beginning we lived so that we could pack up any day, fold up
all our belongings into the same nylon suitcases. Then, over time, Abba
relaxed. We bought things. A fold-out sofa where Ma and Abba could sleep. A TV
and a VCR. A table and a rice cooker. Yellow ruffle curtains and clay pots
for the chili peppers. A pine bookcase for Aisha's math and chemistry books.
Soon it was like we were living in a dream of a home. Year after year we
went on, not thinking about Abba's expired passport in the dresser drawer, or
how the heat and the phone bills were in a second cousin's name. You forget
you don't really exist here, that this really isn't your home. One day, we
said, we'd get the paperwork right. In the meantime we kept going. It
happens. All the time."

9/11 was a personal and deadly tragedy for thousands of Americans and their
families. And it was also a black day for illegal aliens like Nadira, her
big sister, Aisha, and their parents who had the ill-fortune a number of years
ago of hiring an incompetent attorney when they'd attempted to stay in the
country legally. Nadira's older sister Aisha is within striking distance of
being valedictorian of her high school class when, in the wake of 9/11, the
government begins tightening laws and hauling in Muslims and the girls' father
decides the best thing to do is for the family to head for the Canadian border
with their expired visa and request asylum. When they reach the border they
are forced to turn around and the girls' father is promptly arrested because
of the expired visa. Mom finds refuge in a shelter near the border where
her husband is being held, while the girls are forced to return to New York
City to be looked after by relatives and pseudo-relatives, to try to continue
their schooling while waiting indefinitely for the American government to make
its next move.

Nadira, who narrates the story and has always existed in the shadows of her
brilliant and fashionable older sister, finds herself having to step out into
the light as Aisha falls into despair over the loss of her American dreams.

"On the way back from school Aisha repeats to me, 'We're going to hear from
the lawyer, Nadira. Today. Or our letter, it's going to be answered. I
know it.'
"But when we get to the mailbox, it's empty. And there are no messages on
the machine.
"Aisha becomes obsessed. Every day there's no letter in the mailbox from
Homeland Security, no phone call from the lawyer. Every evening that we speak
to Ma and hear there's no news there, either. Aisha grows more frantic. At
night she goes over her homework again and again. She gets up early to go to
school, studying in the empty classrooms. She's like a boxer, jabbing and
hitting, trying her old moves, but this time she's up against something that
so much bigger than her, beyond her power.
" I wish I could just put a hand to her skin, stop her whirring inside.
"Soon Aisha is barely going out. She sits in Taslima's room and stares out
the window. Her hair looks greasy; she hasn't even bothered to press coconut
oil into her scalp or run her fingers through the kinks. She keeps wearing
that stupid Destiny's Child T-shirt, and when no one's home, she sneaks into
the living room and watches soaps on TV."

Imagine what it would be like to be an American in the wrong country at the
wrong time with all the rules changing, just when after years that country
was feeling like it was home.

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well-written & compelling

I loved this compelling and terrific look at a very important subject. Illegal immigration is much in the news these days, but people rarely seem to see or think about the human faces and stories behind the headlines. This story of a Bangladeshi family who have successfully "passed" as legal for years in New York but are caught up in the post-9/11 crackdown on anyone Muslim is a heartwrenching look at the people affected every day by bureaucratic tangles and injustices, as well as American prejudices and fears. The father wrenched from his family and detained for months, the "star student" daughter who is afraid to tell anyone at school her family's situation, the younger, quieter daughter who works to find a way out of the catastrophe that has befallen the family--these characters come vividly to life and it's impossible not to imagine what it would be like in their situation.

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Book Rreview: Ask Me No Questions

It's hard to be a teenager...trying to fit in with the crowd while also trying to figure out who you are and what you want to be. But when you are seemingly invisible to the society around you, it's a lot more complicated.

High school students Nadira and Aisha are immigrants from Bangladesh. They have lived in NewYork City since they were young children surrounded by friends and family. Their father (Abba) has been working with a lawyer to acquire the papers to become legal, but for now the family is living on expired visas. Their status as illegal aliens is not a problem, really, until September 11, 2001 when everything changes! Muslims are now targets for harassment and having proper papers is crucial to avoid deportation or even imprisonment!

The family tries to flee to Canada where they hope to receive asylum. Unfortunately, when they reach Canada, they are turned away due to the huge numbers of people also seeking asylum. When they try to re-enter the U.S., they are stopped. Abba is led away for questioning and Ma must stay in a Salvation Army shelter in order to be close to him. Nadira and Aisha are sent back to New York City where they are told to stay with an Aunt and Uncle and go to school as if nothing has happened until the situation is straightened out.

Aisha is a senior in high school and has always been the smart and pretty one. Her grades place her in the top of her class. She is a member of the varsity debate team and she has been nominated to be valedictorian of her class. Aisha has always been sure to fit in with those around her. She wears the right clothes, listens to the right music and has the right friends. She is the "star"of the family who will go to college and be someone rich and important someday. Nadira is quiet and a little chubby. She must work for her grades and she has always been outshone by Aisha. But suddenly, Aisha stops trying. She skips classes, misses the championship debate meet and even misses her entrance interview with Barnard College. She believes that it's not worth trying anymore since they will probably be deported anyway. Now it's up to Nadira to come up with a plan to save the family.

Budhos has written a compelling story that humanizes the situation experienced by Muslims right after 9/11. The title, "Ask Me No Questions" refers to the fact that illegal aliens often live and work in a community with the full knowledge of its citizens. No one asks for their paperwork, so they don't have to worry about producing it. In the climate of fear after 9/11 many Muslims were suspected of being terrorists and the need to have proper documentation was critical. In this book, Nadira and Aisha have lived in New York for years with no problem. As far as they are concerned, they are Americans. Suddenly everything they have come to expect about their future is in question. Because the story is told through Nadira's eyes, the reader experiences her confusion and fear first hand.
Much of young adult literature focuses on teens "coming of age" and "finding their place in the world". Budhos has created a story of two teens who experience all of that and more. Readers are provided with insight into a problem experienced by more teens than we might imagine. This is a thought-provoking and eye-opening book to which teens and adults can relate.

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Book allows children to tackle tough current issues

This book is amazing and tells the story of a family from Bangladesh who gets a tourist visa to America and ends up staying- illegally. However after 9/11 our country started caring about who lived in our country and made men from certain countries register with the government.

This book has allowed me to think about things from another's point of view and re-think my opinion on illegal immigration (which I am still thinking about). I think it's great that Marina Budhos writes a novel like this to allow young adults to think critically about this hot topic and form their own opinions on it. Amazing class discussions could come of this book if used in a classroom setting!!!

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Enlightment into a hidden culture

As a doctorate student working on my dissertation concerning the impact multicultural tradebooks have on attitudes of children I found this book an excellent source needed in the classroom. Prejudice and misconceptions of "others" who do not look like or act like the mainstream culture causes an intolerance from too many U.S. citizens whose family endured the same years ago. Children can learn and sympathy through the reading of this fabulous novel.



reviews: page 1, 2

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