Back when I was growing up in Malaysia, the private school I went to for a good part of my primary and secondary schooling essentially gave up on teaching after the General Certificate of Secondary Education exams, and organized fun extracurricular activities for us instead. One of these was trips to the nearby zoo, and when I say nearby, I mean a ten-minute walk or so. So reading a book about a young girl in a (sub)tropical climate who has a coming-of-age experience involving academics and a nearby zoo perhaps resonated with me more than it might with the average reader.
That said, this is the kind of book I could easily see finding an audience with any pre-teen desperate to be allowed to pursue their future without the weight of “but what will people say?!” holding them back, no matter where in the world they live (or how much access to elephants they may have, lol.) Hafsa Imtiaz lives in a village some hours’ drive away from Lahore. Her parents own and run the produce market, and her beloved elder sister Shabnam has married well, to a kind and handsome cardiologist in the capital city. Hafsa herself wants to be a doctor like Sohail, an ambition that her parents don’t exactly encourage. They’d be much happier if she’d just marry a doctor like her sister did, tho they’re not conservative enough to discourage her medical dreams altogether.
And so, secretly, Hafsa applies for a summer science camp program for girls at the prestigious Bukhari Academy in Lahore. Her favorite teacher Miss Sadia often speaks fondly of her experiences there, and Hafsa is determined to go. She’s excited when her application is accepted, but immediately balks when she sees the cost. Even if her parents would let her go live in a dorm unchaperoned, there’s no way they could fork out as much as the cost of a new motorcycle just for her summer experience.
Shabnam and Sohail come to the rescue. When they learn of Hafsa’s quandary, they offer not only to pay, but to have Hafsa stay with them so as to curtail any gossip in the village about her staying in a dorm. Hafsa’s parents reluctantly agree, in part because saying no could be seen as an insult to Sohail’s side of the family. Hafsa herself is thrilled, as not only will she be able to attend the pre-med camp of her dreams, she’ll also be able to spend some quality time with her sister again.








