Ask Me No Questions actually left me with a lot of questions. It is one of those books I want someone I know to read so that I can talk about it with them. Nadira is fourteen years old, from Bangladesh, living with her mom, dad and older sister Aisha who is a super student in Queens. They are living in the country illegally and have been for many years. They have been trying to become citizens but it's been one thing after another, including a lawyer who ripped them off and their money. Now it is right after 9/11 and there are new crackdowns on immigration, especially people from Muslim countries. A lot of folks are going to Canada to ask for asylum. Nadira's family tries but instead they are turned away and her dad is jailed.
The book is short and I read it in one night because I really wanted to find out what happened to Nadira and her family. They are really sympathetic characters but life-like. The book doesn't paint them out to be put-upon victims, Nadira acknowledges that what she and her family have been doing is illegal. It is just a really complicated thing though, because the whole crackdown is racially motivated because of 9/11. I have no answers about the right and wrongness of the whole deal, but I have a lot of conflicting feelings and so I can't wait to find someone who has read it, too!
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