Watched

June 13, 2016
A Muslim teen adrift in his post-9/11 Queens neighborhood makes a dangerous bargain in a stirring novel about coming of age amid intensive police surveillance and racial profiling. After 11-year-old Naeem travels from Bangladesh to Jackson Heights to live with his father, stepmother, and half-brother, he begins a slow slide from treasured firstborn to charming but failing slacker. By senior year, Naeem mostly spends time cruising around with his older friend, Ibrahim, who is the reason Naeem gets caught with stolen merchandise after a mall trip. Two NYPD detectives offer Naeem a deal: he can become everything his community fears—a watcher, a rat—or his shoplifting will become more than a stupid mistake. Naeem immerses himself in the Muslim community, feeding what seems like innocuous information to the police, unsure whether he’s the hero or villain in his own story. Through Naeem’s perceptive, conflicted narration, Budhos (Tell Us We’re Home) captures the tug of youthful innocence leeching away as hard, unjust realities set in with a mix of apprehension and genuine emotion. Ages 12–up. Agency: Brandt & Hochman.

"I'm watched," begins Sunil Malhotra's first-person narration. He conveys the paranoia of Naeem, a Bangladeshi-born teen living in post-9/11 Queens. Malhotra fleshes out Naeem's fear, frustration and anger. His parents' store is failing, and his devotion to school is flagging. He finds release from spending time with his eccentric, daring friend, Ibrahim. Malhotra sets the emotional tone so clearly that listeners understand why Naeem takes risks in this dangerous relationship. His innocence is just as clear, especially when he's apprehended by police for a shoplifting incident engineered by Ibrahim. The threats of the police convince Naeem to become the kind of watcher he has scorned and feared in the past. Once Naeem begins spying on his Muslim neighbors, Malhotra sensitively portrays his increasingly conflicted feelings and difficult decision. S.W. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine