• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

Twelve-year-old Alina is actually looking forward to going back to school.

For once, she has some friends to sit beside on the first day. But when Alina walks into her classroom, someone is sitting in her spot and there are no seats left next to her friends. Grade seven is off to a rocky start! Then the teacher announces that the class will be going on a trip to Paris later in the fall. It’s an expensive trip, but she’s sure that with the right plan, she can convince her strict parents to let her go. What could go wrong?

For starters, her passport is expired so she can't go on the trip to Paris. When her new passport does arrive, her parents announce a trip back to Pakistan. At first Alina is miserable, but soon she begins to see that when it comes to the things that matter the most, she might not be so unlucky after all.

This is a sequel to the author’s first novel, The Unlovable Alina Butt, which was a starred selection for CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens.

Praise for The Unlovable Alina Butt:

“In this charming, tightly plotted debut, Alina’s witty, vulnerable narratorial voice guides readers through her intensely authentic personal evolution.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This charming, eye-opening book highlights not only the struggles of an immigrant girl, but the power that comes from seeing things through someone else’s eyes.”—School Library Journal (SLJ)

Ambreen Butt-Hussain is the author of the debut middle-grade novel The Unlovable Alina Butt. Ambreen was born in Pakistan but lived in England and Scotland before finally settling in Canada for many years. She has a bachelor of science from the University of Toronto and a master of education from Queen’s University. She continues to move around and has recently made Princeton, New Jersey her new home, with her husband and two sons.

Ambreen Butt-Hussain's profile page