Hafsa’s Way

Inspired in part, per an author’s note, by the true story of an orphaned Asian elephant transplanted to the Islamabad Zoo, this tidy novel by Saeed (Omar Rising) traces a Pakistani youth’s experience learning to advocate for others. Determined Hafsa dreams of becoming a medical doctor. She’s thrilled when her traditional father, pressured by her older sister Shabnam and Shabnam’s physician husband Sohail, reluctantly allows Hafsa to attend a prestigious science camp in Lahore, where the newly married couple lives with Sohail’s wealthy parents. Hafsa is disappointed, however, to learn that the camp curriculum focuses not on medicine but on climate change. But her disappointment soon grows into curiosity and concern for the animals in the city zoo and their deteriorating living conditions—especially for elephant, Gulab. Hafsa’s deepening attachment to Gulab and her activism against animal cruelty steadily unfolds alongside peripheral family struggles: after Shabnam abandons her goal of attending culinary school to instead help her mother-in-law fundraise for Sohail’s hospital, Hafsa’s attempted interventions sow resentment within the sisters’ relationship. While Hafsa’s emotional voice reads as somewhat young, and conflicts are resolved a bit smoothly, the development of Hafsa’s passions evolves naturally and credibly, and her achievements feel well-earned. Ages 10–up. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group. (Mar.)