Safiyyah’s War

Khan (The Extraordinary Life of Malala Yousafzai) offers a WWII story about a Muslim community in Paris, in which tween Safiyyah and her family reside in an apartment in the city’s Grand Mosque, where her father is a director. Safiyyah’s childhood in the serene mosque has been idyllic, enhanced by magical times poring over old maps in the library. The book opens with the May 1940 German invasion of France, and traces the changes in Parisian life—Safiyyah’s in particular—that ensue, including her best friend’s family fleeing the city and her 16-year-old cousin joining the military. When Safiyyah is inexplicably barred from the weekly get-togethers her honorary uncles—other beloved mosque directors—attend in her father’s office, she grows suspicious about her father’s activities. Mounting devastation enacted by the Germans creates drama and tension as sympathetic, occasionally rebellious Safiyyah grows more courageous amid increasingly dangerous circumstances. Sensitively told via lyrical language and lush sensory details that evoke the deep pleasures of warm Muslim family traditions, Khan’s novel unveils the important role Muslims and the Grand Mosque played in saving Jews during WWII. A historical note concludes. Ages 8–12. (May)