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Nayra and the Djinn : A Librarian’s Perspective Review

Despite positive professional reviews for Nayra and the Djinn, I just didn’t love it. The story is okay, but the illustrations are difficult to follow. I like that Ramadan was a major part of the setting. This one may be one of those “it’s not you; it’s me” reviews. It feels like I just read an inexperienced kid’s webcomic. I do not understand the praise I’ve seen from other librarians and professional reviewers.

AUTHOR: Iasmin Omar Ata
ILLUSTRATOR: Iasmin Omar Ata
SERIES: none
PUBLISHER: Viking Books for Young Readers
PUBLICATION DATE: February 28, 2023
PAGES: 256
GENRE: graphic novel, fantasy, magical realism
SETTING: takes place during Ramadan and Eid
GIVE IT TO: MS, HS

AWARDS AND KUDOS

  • no starred professional reviews
  • no awards to date (as of 25 Apr 2023), but this is a fairly new book at the time of this review – I do not anticipate awards for this title.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Nothing is going right for Nayra Mansour.

There’s the constant pressure from her strict family, ruthless bullying from her classmates, and exhausting friendship demands from Rami–the only other Muslim girl at school. Nayra has had enough.

Just when she’s considering transferring schools to escape it all, a mysterious djinn named Marjan appears. As a djinn, a mythical being in Islamic folklore, Marjan uses their powers and wisdom to help Nayra navigate her overwhelming life. But Marjan’s past is fraught with secrets, guilt, and trouble, and if they don’t face what they’ve done, Nayra could pay the price.

THE SHORT VERSION

I would buy this for my library, but it’s only because of the Muslim representation. I wasn’t a fan of the illustrations. The story was just okay. The book feels unpolished.

WHAT I LIKED

My favorite thing about Nayra and the Djinn is that it’s set during Ramadan. I like the Muslim representation so much that it’s the sole reason I recommend libraries purchase it for their collections.

I cannot think of one middle grade graphic novel focused on Ramadan or Muslim middle schoolers. I’m sure someone out there is yelling at the screen right now, “But what about ___?” Of course, there may be another graphic novel or two out there with this kind of Muslim representation. But seriously, one or two is still way, way too few.

So yes, librarians, despite my unenthusiastic review for this book, I still very much recommend it for middle school libraries.

Nayra and the Djinn shows us many Muslim practices during Ramadan, like fasting and eating dates to break the fast. Some characters wear hijab. The family coming together for Eid – despite their many arguments – is also part of the story.

I also like that we get to see just how difficult it is to fast every day during Ramadan. Rami and Nayra both complain that they feel thirsty and tired.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

I really hoped to like this book better. My main issue is with the difficult-to-follow illustrations. I also have an overall feeling that the book is unpolished.

If one of my middle schoolers brought me this book as their own work, I’d tell them how beautiful it is and encourage them to write/draw more.

But as this is a professionally-published graphic novel with lots of positive professional reviews, I expect far more. Illustrations should add context and nuance to the plot; they should not make the story more confusing.

Part of what makes the illustrations so difficult to follow is the physical similarities of the characters. This is especially true in black outline illustrations, which have no color or shading. Nayra and Rami’s hair is almost identical, but Nayra’s hair is dark and Rami’s is light. Without the shading or color, I had to look for the squared-off ends of Rami’s hair (which appears to be dredlocks) or their clothing (Rami wears pleated skirts). The girls’ eyes, faces, and body shapes are the same.

The two bullies from gym class also look very similar. The bullies are twins, so fine, they are going to look at least a little alike. But by middle school, even identical twins have some features that make them look different. The only identifying features of these two is that one twin has slightly shorter hair. It also seems one is a boy and one is a girl, but that is not totally clear.

Another issue with the illustrations is that I couldn’t always tell what was happening. Some illustrations are just cloudy scribbles. There are lots of extreme close-ups of eyes. Some illustrations are more brushy lines than defined shapes. Some are in color, and some are black outlines. The words make sense, but the illustrations frequently do not.

The story of the djinns should have been interesting, but I didn’t understand that, either. The djinns were once friends, then one stole a necklace or a stone or something and became bad? And then they come to earth for some reason and befriend Nayra and Rami. Because…? One djinn was apparently “bad” and the other was “good,” but I’m not even sure if I got that right. Very confusing.

Are the djinns really necessary to the story? The most interesting conflicts – Nayra’s trouble with bullies and her unsteady friendship with Rami – have nothing to do with the djinns.

On to another issue…Nayra deals with two twin bullies in gym class. Bullies in school is certainly realistic, but I felt these bullying antics were overly-simplistic.

These students appear to be around 8th or 9th grade. I worked in high school libraries for five years and middle school for 13 years as a teacher and as a librarian. Bullying at these grade levels isn’t just about being called the same name over and over.

There are many more levels to upper-middle and high school bullying. Cyberbullying, sexting, intimidation, physical aggression, sexual aggression, pretending to be friends, getting between friends, “pranking”…trust me, it’s far more nuanced than one-note racist namecalling.

I also think many high school students would call out the racism early-on. Today’s teens are very aware of racism, and the racist name-calling in this book isn’t done in a vacuum. I cannot imagine that other students and teachers heard the racist names and not a single person called it out. That does not ring true to me based on my experience with this age group.

It’s like this is what the adult author thinks bullying looks like in schools today.

I sure wish it were this simple.

And yes, it’s still wrong.

Nayra also seems to be able to hold her own against the bullies. She doesn’t appear to internalize it; she gives it right back to the bullies. While she does skip class to avoid them, she does not appear intimidated or afraid of them. Rather, she just doesn’t want to deal with them. Totally understandable, but not worth forging her parents’ signature and secretly changing schools over.

She even solves the problem on her own by befriending one of the bullies in the end.

On another note, why is Nayra so mean to Rami and her own family? I kept thinking the djinn was making her be mean, like a mind control thing, but that seems wrong. Of course, the whole book is a head-scratcher, so who knows? It’s entirely possible that I just didn’t get it.

The ending is too pat. They might as well have written “…and then they all went home. The end.”

DIVERSITY

Nayra and Rami are both Muslim teens. Rami has blonde hair, and Nayra has black hair that looks like dredlocks. Nayra’s sister wears hijab. Rami also sometimes wears hijab.

One of the djinns (Marjan) is described using “they/them” pronouns.

ARTWORK/ILLUSTRATIONS

The pink and purple color palatte is pretty, but illustrations are frequently confusing and/or difficult to follow. All the characters have the same facial features and sometimes, the clothing is almost identical. The eye-zoom illustrations are overly-plentiful. Hair, eyes, and clothing are manga-inspired (clothing is not suggestive).

Screenshot of Nayra and the Djinn Screenshot of Nayra and the Djinn Screenshot of Nayra and the Djinn Screenshot of Nayra and the Djinn

THEMES

  • Ramadan, Eid, bullying, friendship, djinns, family problems

LIBRARIANS WILL WANT TO KNOW

Would adults like this book? I would not recommend it to adults.

Would I buy this for my high school library? Possibly, but it does feel young for high school. If I bought it, it would be solely for the Ramadan and Muslim representation.

Would I buy this for my middle school library? 100% YES, I would buy it for the Ramadan and Muslim representation. I’d also love to hear student opinions about it. Maybe they could talk me into liking it better!

Would I buy this for my elementary school library? Tough call on this one. I don’t remember any particular content concerns, and professional reviewers recommend Grades 5-8. This feels perfect for middle school to me.

MATURE CONTENT

  • Language: none
  • Sexuality: none
  • Violence: mild bullying (racist name-calling)
  • Drugs/Alcohol: none
  • Other: none

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