Grounded

Four kids meet at an airport for one unforgettable night in this middle-grade novel by four bestselling and award-winning authors--Aisha Saeed, Huda Al-Marashi, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, and S. K. Ali

When a thunderstorm grounds all flights following a huge Muslim convention, four unlikely kids are thrown together. Feek is stuck babysitting his younger sister, but he’d rather be writing a poem that’s good enough for his dad, a famous poet and rapper. Hanna is intent on finding a lost cat in the airport--and also on avoiding a conversation with her dad about him possibly remarrying. Sami is struggling with his anxiety and worried that he’ll miss the karate tournament that he’s trained so hard for. And Nora has to deal with the pressure of being the daughter of a prominent congresswoman, when all she really wants to do is make fun NokNok videos. These kids don’t seem to have much in common--yet.

Told in alternating points of view, Grounded tells the story of one unexpected night that will change these kids forever.

Aisha Saeed is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of books for children. Aisha is also a founding member of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her family. Huda Al-Marashi is the author of the bestselling memoir First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story. Her other writing has appeared in various anthologies and news outlets, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and Al Jazeera. Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow is a Philadelphia-based author of popular educator-recommended children’s books. She is an Irma Black Award silver medalist, and her books continue to make many ＂Best of＂ lists, including Time’s ＂10 Best YA and Children’s Books＂ and Book Riot’s ＂20 Best Children’s Books of All Time.＂ S.K. Ali is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of several books for young people, including the Morris award finalist Saints and Misfits and reader-favorite Love from A to Z. She has a degree in Creative Writing and is striving to write every kind of book she loved growing up.