Nura and the Immortal Palace

In fictional Meerabagh, Pakistan, clever, ambitious Nura and her friend Faisal, often teased for his stutter, mine mica scraps, reaching crevices too deep in the earth for adults to access. Though her widowed mother dreams of sending her to school, Nura concentrates her wishes on more immediate things, such as the sweets she can buy with her wages. Finally forbidden from mining, Nura determines to unearth the legendary and valuable Demon’s Tongue mica stone on her final day. When she digs too deep, however, and the earth collapses over Faisal, Nura delves even farther to save him, landing in the realm of the jinn, and at the Sijj Palace, an opulent jinn hotel. There she finds Faisal, and the duo face trickery from the jinn, who offer untold luxuries and attempt to maneuver human children into laboring for the hotel. Meticulous plotting and layered lore elevate Khan’s debut, while Nura and Faisal’s friendship grounds the high-stakes story about burgeoning labor consciousness. An author’s note contextualizes the importance of education as well as cycles of exploitation and forced child labor. Ages 8–12. Agent: Melanie Figueroa, Root Literary. (July)