The Kingdom Over the Sea by Zohra Nabi is a fantasy adventure that begins in an ordinary seaside town in the U.K. and quickly (and chaotically) sails away to Zehaira, a world of alchemy and sorcery. At home in the U.K., 12-year-old Yara and her mother share a language and culture seemingly to themselves. Yara’s documents indicate a start in Iraq, but Mama has been vague about their past. The more Yara asks, the more painful it becomes for Mama to answer. She promises to tell Yara when she gets older.
But then Mama dies, leaving a cryptic letter with instructions and no answers. Yara must leave the home she knows. As she flees town, Yara encounters racism and xenophobia directed towards an Iraqi family on the bus. When the conflict passes, Yara realizes they do not speak the special language she shares with Mama. The experience reinforces Yara’s feeling of not belonging. Yara is left alone to discover the truth about her past and heritage in a magical new world. To get to Zehaira, Yara is swept off by a frightening ferryman over a storming sea that Nabi likens to the twister that takes Dorothy to the world of Oz. Like Dorothy, Yara searches for home, only it’s a home she’s never known. In her effort to retain her cultural identity when home is fragile, Yara desperately searches to understand her heritage and to find community.
The Kingdom Over the Sea is inspired by the golden age of the Islamic world (about the 8th through the 13th centuries) and Nabi’s own family’s history of displacement and immigration. Nabi gives the characters Arabic names such as Yara, which could mean “brave” or “butterfly.” The book also describes a masoor dal recipe that Nabi calls near perfect if followed.
Nabi grew up inventing stories for her two younger sisters while secretly dreaming of being an author. She studied law at Cambridge and Oxford universities, and now lives in London, browsing bookshops and writing magical adventures. The follow up to The Kingdom Over the Sea is the forthcoming The City Beyond the Stars.
Note: The U.K. version of The Kingdom Over the Sea consistently uses a calligraphic typeface for spells that increases in size as the spellcaster increases their confidence, whereas the U.S. version does not use this typesetting until page 311. In conversation with young readers with access to both versions, they overwhelmingly choose the U.K. version. -Recommended by Rebecca Ballenger, The University of Arizona, Tucson
Title: The Kingdom Over the Sea
Author: Zohra Nabi
ISBN: 9781665931083
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
PubDate: June 6, 2023
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- Themes: Kingdom Over The Sea, Rebecca Ballenger, Zohra Nabi
- Descriptors: WOW Recommends