So, I was reading for comparable titles about string instruments for my latest WIP, Dragon Scales, when I came across this and as the rebab (see it in light blue on the cover?) is a string instrument from Afghanistan, I thought to put it on hold and check it out of my local library.
Then the author joined a critique group I'm in, and she's a fantastic writer, so I should probably disclose that, before you read this review. But one of the things I've learned from her writing, and it's so very apparent here, is how she layers emotion and feeling into every little nook and cranny of her books! It packs a real wallop, by the end. Ready the tissue box!
Sami's grandfather lets him play their family rebab, a traditional stringed instrument from their home country of Afghanistan and one of the few possessions the two managed to bring with them to the United States. Unfortunately, he gets so into the music, a thief snags the instrument out of his hands and makes off into the Boston subway station with it.
Playing for tips is their one means of supporting themselves in their meager apartment. As a result, Sami's grandfather is forced to take a dish washing job and his hands crack and bleed in the cheap soap. Times are super tough, but Sami is determined to find the rebab and bring it -- and the hope his grandfather attaches to it -- home.
First, he makes a friend at school who helps him locate the instrument in a pawn shop. There's no mistaking it -- it's his grandfather's. The pawnshop dealer gives Sami a deadline to come up with the money to buy it back.
But Sami's dead broke. He comes up with a scheme to barter, or trade, items with his soccer team to raise the full $700 he needs to buy it back. It starts with a UK soccer team's key chain for an iPod, and works his way up to repairing and selling a laptop computer. He finally does it, but when he arrives at the pawn shop, cash in-hand, the instrument is gone! The pawnshop dealer hasn't kept his word, and he's already sold it to someone else.
I won't spoil the ending. Like I said, break out the tissues! This is a super gift to give to a special child in your life! Enjoy.
