The Door Is Open

Starred review from February 1, 2024

Gr 3-7-Maple Grove Community Center: it's rough around the edges, in desperate need of renovation, and is a hub of activity for the South Asian community of Maple Grove, NJ. It's where Chaya wins her first chess tournament, and where Maha finally apologizes to her cousins at her aunt's mehndi ceremony. It's where Chen flashes a smile at Steven for the seventh time, and Jeevan learns that even though he never wants to eat it, he loves to make sabji. For so many, Maple Grove Community Center has become home. Lately, it's also become the target for anti-Asian sentiments brewing in town-but the kids of Maple Grove aren't going to let racism win. They plan to let the town know, once and for all, that they belong here. What begins as a sweet constellation of stories orbiting around a shared community center quickly develops into a fiercely proud, unflinching look at anti-immigrant, anti-Asian vitriol through the lens of South Asian American kids growing up in New Jersey. Midway through the anthology, readers will begin recognizing characters as they appear in other stories, and by the end, they will have laughed, cried, cringed, and celebrated their way into adopting Maple Grove Community Center as a home to them, too, ready to fight for its continued existence. VERDICT A monumental achievement and exquisite testament to the power of collaboration and community, this novel moves beyond the reality of diversity into the necessity of it.-Amira Walker

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2024
Focused on a community center in the fictional town of Maple Grove, New Jersey, this powerful collection of short stories celebrates the broad diversity of middle schoolers from the South Asian community, commonly referred to as desi. Over the course of the eleven interrelated stories, protagonists celebrate major life events, holidays, and the more mundane at the community center. The dilapidated building serves as the focal point for a heavily Asian American community but is also a target of xenophobic opportunists, who use coded (and sometimes overt) language to try to shut it down. "Together at the Center" by Khan, "Out in the Open" by Rajani LaRocca, and "The Map of Home" by Sayantani DasGupta showcase the importance of open dialogue, community, and speaking out against anti-Asian/South Asian and Islamophobic incidents. Mitali Perkins's "Smile Number Seven" and "Answered Prayers" by N. H. Senzai address in-group judgment, both real and perceived, ethnic and religious; resulting self-defense mechanisms are handled with nuance and care in relation to single-parent households, disability, and domestic violence. Back matter includes a note from Khan and contributing authors' bios. Ariana Hussain

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 15, 2024
Grades 4-6 The Maple Grove Community Center is the beating heart of the desi families in the fictional town of Maple Grove, NJ, so when it is threatened with closure, everyone springs into action to save it. Eleven stories, written by authors in the South Asian diaspora, paint a picture of the rich cultural, geographic, linguistic, and religious diversity embodied by the people of the enormous Indian subcontinent. Each short story contains its own teen or preteen protagonist grappling with a personal matter: a chess competition, a Quran recitation, a dance, a crush. Individual stories stand alone, but cameos and references link them together beautifully. All the events and emotional resolutions take place at the community center. While the protagonists are at the core of their stories, we learn also of their families and friends, their histories, pet peeves, values, virtues, and flaws, so that each character is fully developed even within the brevity of a short story. A delight for cultural insiders that will charm and educate outsiders, this middle-grade anthology has something for everyone.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2024
Focused on a community center in the fictional town of Maple Grove, New Jersey, this powerful collection of short stories celebrates the broad diversity of middle schoolers from the South Asian community, commonly referred to as desi. Over the course of the eleven interrelated stories, protagonists celebrate major life events, holidays, and the more mundane at the community center. The dilapidated building serves as the focal point for a heavily Asian American community but is also a target of xenophobic opportunists, who use coded (and sometimes overt) language to try to shut it down. "Together at the Center" by Khan, "Out in the Open" by Rajani LaRocca, and "The Map of Home" by Sayantani DasGupta showcase the importance of open dialogue, community, and speaking out against anti-Asian/South Asian and Islamophobic incidents. Mitali Perkins's "Smile Number Seven" and "Answered Prayers" by N. H. Senzai address in-group judgment, both real and perceived, ethnic and religious; resulting self-defense mechanisms are handled with nuance and care in relation to single-parent households, disability, and domestic violence. Back matter includes a note from Khan and contributing authors' bios.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)