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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
"A Bit of Earth" by Karuna Riazi is a refreshing retelling of "The Secret Garden" about an "unpleasant" orphan that relishes in being "unpleasant." Maria Latif has been recently orphaned and passed around between family members ever since. Finally reaching their wits ends, the rebellious and troublemaking Maria is sent across the ocean to be taken in by friends of the family. When she arrives though, the house and the people within it are withdrawn. Life has been completely sucked out of the place; and a garden, which Maria is mysteriously drawn to, is padlocked... which could only mean that there is something that someone doesn't want to be found behind it. With nothing else to do and a penchant for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong, Maria makes her mission to discover what's inside no matter the consequences.
This book revolves around themes of displacement, abandonment, grief, prejudice, family pressures, identity, friendship, belonging, and more. The MC is a Bangladeshi/Pakistani Muslim and there is another character that is revealed to have ADHD.
Now, I have not read "The Secret Garden" and, thus, cannot attest to how the retelling holds up in that regard. However, "A Bit of Earth" stands strongly on its own. Maria Latif is prickly, stubborn, and makes sure that she never gets close to anyone by pushing them away first. I have said it before, and I have said it again: I have a fondness for "unlikeable" MCs. When they're handled with care and consideration, authors are able to bring so much depth and move beyond misogynistic stereotypes. Maria Latif is one of those well-crafted characters and I'm so thankful for it because difficult little girls deserve to see themselves represented too instead of being demonized and used as a typical bully trope. They deserve to be the heroes in their own stories. They deserve kindness and understanding, even when they're at their worst. They deserve a book like this.
"A Bit of Earth" by Karuna Riazi is a refreshing retelling of "The Secret Garden" about an "unpleasant" orphan that relishes in being "unpleasant." Maria Latif has been recently orphaned and passed around between family members ever since. Finally reaching their wits ends, the rebellious and troublemaking Maria is sent across the ocean to be taken in by friends of the family. When she arrives though, the house and the people within it are withdrawn. Life has been completely sucked out of the place; and a garden, which Maria is mysteriously drawn to, is padlocked... which could only mean that there is something that someone doesn't want to be found behind it. With nothing else to do and a penchant for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong, Maria makes her mission to discover what's inside no matter the consequences.
This book revolves around themes of displacement, abandonment, grief, prejudice, family pressures, identity, friendship, belonging, and more. The MC is a Bangladeshi/Pakistani Muslim and there is another character that is revealed to have ADHD.
Now, I have not read "The Secret Garden" and, thus, cannot attest to how the retelling holds up in that regard. However, "A Bit of Earth" stands strongly on its own. Maria Latif is prickly, stubborn, and makes sure that she never gets close to anyone by pushing them away first. I have said it before, and I have said it again: I have a fondness for "unlikeable" MCs. When they're handled with care and consideration, authors are able to bring so much depth and move beyond misogynistic stereotypes. Maria Latif is one of those well-crafted characters and I'm so thankful for it because difficult little girls deserve to see themselves represented too instead of being demonized and used as a typical bully trope. They deserve to be the heroes in their own stories. They deserve kindness and understanding, even when they're at their worst. They deserve a book like this.
thank you to the author for the arc.
this was a cute and easy middle grade read! i wish there was a little more character development and i wasn’t as engaged as i’d like to have been but overall this was really enjoyable and i know i would have adored this as a kid :)
this was a cute and easy middle grade read! i wish there was a little more character development and i wasn’t as engaged as i’d like to have been but overall this was really enjoyable and i know i would have adored this as a kid :)
Riazi reimagines one of my favorite childhood stories, The Secret Garden, into a modern tale with a diverse cast and a comparatively surly Mary, turned Maria (that's MA-ria, not Ma-RI-a). I enjoyed the new characters and the whiff of magic brought to the story, as well as the cooking element. Delightful.
The themes of this retelling translate well though some of the story elements are loosely adapted.
The interspersed poetry didn't really do anything for me, but still a beautiful book, especially for spikey girls!
And while it's fun for adults to see the parallels with A Secret Garden, it's absolutely unnecessary for kids to read that to enjoy this one fully.
And while it's fun for adults to see the parallels with A Secret Garden, it's absolutely unnecessary for kids to read that to enjoy this one fully.
This book WRECKED me. I loved THE SECRET GARDEN as a kid -- going to annual performances at our Mpls Children's Theatre of it -- and re-reading over and over and over.
I didn't like the way spoiled Mary Lennox acted about her life in India but I didn't grok the entire history.
I really want Karuna Riazi's story to be the one that is put on annually in children's theatres.
What an absolutely perfect book.
I didn't like the way spoiled Mary Lennox acted about her life in India but I didn't grok the entire history.
I really want Karuna Riazi's story to be the one that is put on annually in children's theatres.
What an absolutely perfect book.