The Weight of Our Sky

December 15, 2018
A girl battling mental illness searches for her mother during the historic race riots of 1969 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Sixteen-year-old Melati Ahmad, a Malaysian of Malay descent, has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Mel believes a djinn has taken over her consciousness and if she doesn't placate it by counting in threes--her compulsive behavior--all her loved ones will die, and it'll all be her fault. On May 13, the first day of the riots, Mel is saved by Auntie Bee, a Chinese-Malaysian stranger, and forced to leave her best friend, Saf, for dead. Wracked with guilt, Mel must battle her rising anxiety and the Djinn's accusatory voice to find her missing mother. While the war between the Chinese and Malays rages on, Mel finds an ally in Auntie Bee's son, Vince. Armed with a Red Cross curfew pass, Mel and Vince scour the city helping those in need. When faced with a life-or-death situation, Mel digs deep and finds the inner strength to confront the Djinn and stand up for what she believes in. This is a brutally honest, no-holds-barred reimagining of the time: The evocative voice transports readers to 1960s Malaysia, and the brisk pace is enthralling. Above all, the raw emotion splashed across the pages will resonate deeply, no matter one's race or religion.Unabashedly rooted in the author's homeland and confronting timely topics and challenging themes, this book has broad appeal for teen readers. (Historical fiction. 14-18)

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Gr 8 Up-This YA debut depicts the 1969 race riots in Kuala Lumpur through the eyes of a teen with OCD. Sixteen-year-old Melati prefers Paul McCartney to Paul Newman. Her best friend Safiyah feels the opposite. On May 13, the two attend a film to see Safiyah's Paul on the big screen and find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Brutal fights between the Malays and Chinese break out in the streets outside, and eventually the danger trickles into the theater. Safiyah is killed. A Chinese woman named Auntie Bee helps Melati escape. Taking refuge with the Auntie Bee's family, Melati connects with one of the sons, Vincent. As tensions in Kuala Lumpur rise and a curfew is instated, Melati faces her worst fear: not knowing whether her mother is alive or, like her late father, caught in the middle of the violence. At the sentence level, Alkaf's use of first-person narration expertly (and, in some cases, painfully) places readers inside Melati's head as she experiences internal and external horrors. Melati's OCD is presented as a persistent djinn that stokes her anxieties-a choice that ties into the protagonist's Muslim faith and evinces the lack of mental health treatments in the time period. An introductory author's note provides trigger warnings for readers as well as historical context. Echoing contemporary race relations, the subject feels especially relevant. VERDICT Alkaf's immersive, powerful writing make this a must-purchase for all YA collections.-Alec Chunn, Eugene Public Library, OR

December 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 Melati Ahmad is watching a Paul Newman movie with her best friend when the world explodes. The historic 1969 race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, have begun. At first, Melati, a Malay, takes shelter with a Chinese family, but eventually she goes into the city to find her mother. Melati is strongly afflicted with OCD, and the detail with which debut author Alkaf describes living with this disorder is precise and intense, especially Melati's conviction that she must constantly tap ordered patterns to satisfy the djinn (demon)?otherwise, anyone close to her will die. But it is Melati's fight with OCD that makes her such a strong character. Not only does she have to fight to stay alive and find her mother, she also has to wrestle her inner demon. Even so, she saves many people throughout the course of the novel, first with the help of others and eventually by herself. Melati's growing strength gives hope to readers: If she can fight her inner demon and save the day, then they can, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)