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A Bit of Earth Hardcover – March 14, 2023
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“Karuna Riazi has a way with words. This story will find its way into your heart.”—Tae Keller, Newbery Medalist for When You Trap a Tiger
“As timeless as it is timely, A Bit of Earth is a rare gift.”—Laurel Snyder, author of National Book Award nominee Orphan Island
“Extraordinary, poetic, and inventive. A Bit of Earth is such a special book. Prickles and all, Maria Latif captured my whole heart.”—Jasmine Warga, author of Newbery Honor book Other Words for Home
“An ambitious re-envisioning of a long beloved classic, this book is sure to be a big hit.”—Padma Venkatraman, award-winning author of The Bridge Home
“Beautiful! Simply beautiful! My heart needed this!”—Ellen Oh, author of Finding Junie Kim
“A sweet and warm-hearted tale with unforgettable characters.”—Aisha Saeed, bestselling author of Amal Unbound
Maria Latif is used to not having a space of her own. But what happens when she feels the sudden urge to put down roots in the most unexpected of places? Karuna Riazi crafts a tender coming-of-age story about friendship, family, and new beginnings. A Bit of Earth is a reimagining of the classic The Secret Garden, perfect for fans of Other Words for Home and The Bridge Home.
Growing up in Pakistan, Maria Latif has been bounced between reluctant relatives for as long as she can remember—first because of her parents’ constant travel, and then because of their deaths. Maria has always been a difficult child, and it never takes long for her guardians to tire of her. So when old friends of her parents offer to “give her a better life” in the United States, Maria is shipped to a host family across the world.
When Maria arrives on Long Island, things are not quite what she was expecting. Mr. Clayborne has left on an extended business trip, Mrs. Clayborne seems emotionally fraught, and inexplicable things keep happening in the Claybornes’ sprawling house. And then Maria finds a locked gate to an off-limits garden. Since she’s never been good at following rules, Maria decides to investigate and discovers something she never thought she’d find: a place where she feels at home.
With a prickly main character, a sullen boy, two friendly allies, and a locked garden, A Bit of Earth has everything a reader could want from a retelling of The Secret Garden. Karuna Riazi’s evocative prose is interspersed with poetic verses, illuminating each character’s search for a place they can truly call home. This tender yet incisive reimagining of a classic work will captivate fans of the original—and widen the appeal for a modern audience.
- Reading age8 - 12 years
- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level3 - 7
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.17 x 8.25 inches
- PublisherGreenwillow Books
- Publication dateMarch 14, 2023
- ISBN-100063098660
- ISBN-13978-0063098664
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“Karuna Riazi has a way with words. In this deft reimagining of The Secret Garden, she blends lyrical prose and poetry, crafts a heartfelt plot, and develops characters you want to root for. This story will find its way into your heart.” — Tae Keller, winner of the Newbery Medal for When You Trap a Tiger
"Extraordinary, poetic, and inventive. A Bit of Earth is such a special book. Prickles and all, Maria Latif captured my whole heart." — Jasmine Warga, author of Newbery Honor book Other Words for Home
“An ambitious re-envisioning of a long beloved classic, this book is sure to be a big hit.” — Padma Venkatraman, award winning author of The Bridge Home
“Riazi has not just reimagined The Secret Garden. In a delicate blend of poetry and prose, she's also crafted a wide-open window into the heart of every 'unlikable' child who ever lived. I recognized the main character immediately--adrift and hardened, messy and hurt and realer than real--and loved her on every page of this book. As timeless as it is timely, A Bit of Earth is a rare gift.” — Laurel Snyder, author of National Book Award nominee Orphan Island
“A Bit of Earth embodies its titles perfectly. Here is a book that offers a place for readers to bury their fears into and see what beauty unfurls from the space. Riazi's prose is concise and lyrical, and Maria Latif is the prickly bud that astounds everyone when she's finally given the opportunity to bloom." — Roshani Chokshi, New York Times–bestselling of Aru Shah and the End of Time
“Beautiful! Simply beautiful! My heart needed this gorgeous and modern re-imagining of The Secret Garden!" — Ellen Oh, author of Finding Junie Kim
“A sweet and warm-hearted tale with unforgettable characters.” — Aisha Saeed, bestselling author of Amal Unbound
“Karuna Riazi has taken the seeds of an old story and produced something moving, exquisite, and thoroughly new. Readers will root for Maria, whose spirit is both fiery and tender; she leapt off the page and into my heart. Quietly magical and powerfully real, A Bit of Earth gorgeously captures the uncertainty and delight of coming of age—new friendships, the longing to fit in and find family, and the richness of recognizing all the possibilities for a full and rich life. A soul-filling treasure!” — Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of Operation Sisterhood
“A contemporary re-envisioning of The Secret Garden . . . Found family is a central theme as Maria struggles to find a place she can truly call home. . . . Her Desi identity is represented authentically via foods, scents, clothing/dupatta, prayers, and mehndi, and the . . . hybrid prose/verse format provides a narrative that feels genuine, raw, and allows readers into the minds of the characters. . . . Destined to be a new classic, this refreshing of the canon is long overdue.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“A contemporary, multicultural rendition of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel, The Secret Garden. . . .Riazi flavors her rendition with heavy doses of cultural references, nostalgic trappings of the people and practices that Maria left behind and then learns anew in the Bangladeshi diaspora on Long Island. . . . A nice difference from The Secret Garden is the presence of a larger sense of community and adults who are held accountable for their actions. Mary had Colin and Ben (and the robin), but Maria gains quite a gaggle of friends and family.” — Booklist
“Roots, both tangible and intangible, come together in this coming-of-age story. . . . This retelling of The Secret Garden offers an interesting twist on the classic’s colonial, racist tone. It opens with promise as the evocative text highlights Maria’s grief, isolation, and resignation at being cast adrift. Each character has their own story arc that is explored even as Maria finds ways of becoming her own person. . . . This book tackling hefty themes will grow on readers.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A foreboding feeling permeates this mystery-driven novel, a The Secret Garden retelling. . . . Chapters alternate experiential free-verse poetry with a third-person narrative as Maria excavates the garden’s past and her own isolation in this thoughtful, emotionally honest take on the source material.” — Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Karuna Riazi is the author of the acclaimed A Bit of Earth as well as the duology The Gauntlet and The Battle. She holds a BA in English literature from Hofstra University and an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University. She is an online diversity advocate and an educator, and her work has been featured in Entertainment Weekly, Shondaland, and Teen Vogue, among others. A born-and-raised New Yorker, Karuna Riazi lives on Long Island.
Product details
- Publisher : Greenwillow Books (March 14, 2023)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0063098660
- ISBN-13 : 978-0063098664
- Reading age : 8 - 12 years
- Grade level : 3 - 7
- Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.17 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #292,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #928 in Stories in Verse
- #2,750 in Children's Classics
- Customer Reviews:
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SYNOPSIS:
The book updates and mirrors the original fairly well with an obstinate orphan arriving at a sprawling house, finding a prickly boy, and setting off to form a tentative toleration of one another with friendly neighbor kids in a garden that is unquestionably off limits.
Maria Latif arrives from Pakistan against her will to be taken in by a distant relative (I'm not sure how she is related), but Asra has been called away and she is forced to stay with Lyndsay, the new wife of Mr. Clayborne. The first wife was a friend of Maria's family, but Lyndsay is just as emotionally overwhelmed and lost as the child in her charge. With Mr. Clayborne away on businesses, his mother Charlotte keeps them all on edge. When Colin Clayborne is expelled and returns home, more tension erupts and the two children find themselves in an off limits garden trying to make the most of a difficult situation.
WHY I LIKE IT:
I love the mix of poetry and standard novel format. It is beautifully written and clearly the author does a remarkable job of making her very unlikeable characters worm their way in to the reader's heart. Both Maria and Colin are thorny and difficult, stubborn and rude, but you seriously cheer for them, and I did shed a few tears at the end. With the author's writing ability apparent, I'm still not sure why the foundation of the relationships and getting Maria to the Clayborne home is so cumbersome. It is too muddled and it drags the book down every time it is revisited. The Dadi having the aunt's phone number was too easy, the inconsistency of the neighbors having no relationship to the Clayborne's for so long and Lyndsay not even pausing to think another Bangladeshi family living a few houses down might be my husband's first wife's friends, seems inconsistent. Honestly Lyndsey in general needed to read like a competent woman struggling, not a teenager in over her head. I disliked her and Mr. Clayborne's relationship and I would hate to think any reader would find it ok or normal.
I love the Islam and how it presents when the character has to pray, she goes and prays, it is part of the story and it is seamless. I don't think the culture is handled quite as well. Lyndsay is a foot writer who is always cooking, yet knows nothing of desi foods? If Colin's mom is desi, wouldn't she at some point tried to cook familiar foods for him. Half the neighborhood is Bangledeshi, so it seems everyone has a parent or step parent or distant relative that is desi and I loved the normalizing, but it seemed a bit assuming. I don't think kids will wish it was more clear, but as an adult reading it, I felt like it needed to be interjected more without explanation, or if left as is, adding some context. I also wanted to know what Maria's parents did and a little introspection from Maria. Again as an adult I see how her anger and grief changes how she remembers them, but from them always being away, to such soft poignant memories at the end, I think kids will need a little hand holding to understand the grief process and her understanding of them. As it is, they just seem terrible and then all of the sudden great, and the pacing gets thrown off in the process.
FLAGS:
It seems to hint at the end that Maria might have a bit of a crush on Colin, I honestly thought up until a single line that they were making a chosen family with the people who cared for them, but that line seemed to suggest it might be more of a romantic feeling than friend or brotherly. I read an early copy, so this is subject to change.
Maria gets her period and it is detailed what she is feeling. I think boys and girls can and should read it. It is presented on age and appropriately: cramps, achy, dry about blood leakage, having it start young like her mother, etc..
Implied magic (possibly), music and musical instruments being played, milaad, lying, sneaking, being kicked out of school for physical assault, close male and female friendships, ADHD stigma.
TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION
I think this book would work in a classroom and would appeal to readers in an Islamic or public library. I would consider it for a middle school book club, I think readers will connect and feel empathy for Maria, Colin, and Lyndsay and be better for it.
Landing on Long Island with a family found through her parents' alumni association, Maria knows the adults in her life are struggling to find a new place for her now that her grandmother can no longer care for her and her reputation for being troublesome is spreading. Even though Maria still yearns to be anywhere else, the Long Island house slowly starts to win her over once she discovers an unloved garden where, finally, she might be able to put down roots
until she lands in Long Island and, finding an unloved garden, begins to put down roots in A Bit of Earth (2023) by Karuna Riazi.
This story centers Maria Latif--a Pakistani-Bangladeshi Muslim girl--who is known for being difficult. Through prose and free verse this story explores what it means to be defined as unlikable as a young girl and also as a young person of color in a world that refuses to make space for you. Check out the audiobook narrated by Subhadra Newton for an engaging listen and to get all the pronunciations just right.
Through tending the garden Maria learns more about herself and important feminist values including supporting others, building a community, and speaking up for those who cannot. The story is grounded in Maria (and Riazi's) cultural identities with nods to Maria's Muslim faith and her Desi identity on every page. While Maria remains the center of the story, every character here has a journey of their own as they confront feelings of isolation and grief--especially Colin and Lindsay as both, like Maria, learn to take up space in their own lives.
A Bit of Earth is a faithful retelling of The Secret Garden which stays true to the source material while expanding the classic story to make space for new voices and experiences.
Possible Pairings: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix by Cherie Dimaline, Ruby in the Sky by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo, Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Dream Within a Dream by Patricia MacLachlan, Birdie and Me by JMM Nuanez, Silver Meadows Summer by Emma Otheguy, The Edge of In Between by Lorelei Savaryn, Gallant by VE Schwab, Next Door to Happy by Allison Weiser Strout, The Secret Garden on 81st Street by Ivy Noelle Weir