Broken Moon [Hardcover]

Kim Antieau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2007

I WILL NEVER HAVE A HUSBAND, BUT I HAVE THE BEST BROTHER IN THE WORLD. YOUR BREATH ON MY CHEEK -- ON MY SCAR -- FELT LIKE THE BREATH OF ALLAH.

Nadira is spoiled goods. Scars from a beating she received for a crime that her older brother allegedly committed tell the world that she is worth less than nothing -- except to her little brother, Umar, who sees beauty in her scars and value in her.

But Umar is gone -- perhaps kidnapped or maybe sold. All Nadira knows is that Umar has been taken into the desert to ride camels for rich sheiks. He could be lost to her forever.

For Umar, Nadira will risk everything. So she disguises herself as a boy and searches out the men who took him. They are not hard to find, and soon she, too, is headed to the desert to be a camel jockey.

Life in the desert is more brutal than Nadira imagined. All she has to protect her and the boys she meets are a bit of chai tea, some stories, and the hope that she has enough of both to keep going until she finds Umar.

BROKEN MOON IS A SPELLBINDING, LYRICAL TALE THAT WILL CAPTURE READERS, HEARTS AND SOULS.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–Scarred physically and psychologically by Pakistani traditionalists who avenged her brother's alleged assault on another girl by cutting his sister's face and body, Nadira accepts that she has been ruined. Now 18, she focuses her love on her 6-year-old brother, entertaining him with stories from A Thousand and One Nights. Her father is dead and she works as a servant in a Karachi household to support Umar and their mother, who live with cruel Uncle Rubel. When he sells Umar to kidnappers who take children to the desert to become camel jockeys, she disguises herself as a boy to follow him. In the Bedouin country she tames young bullies as well as the fastest camel, hoping to be allowed to go to the races where she might encounter her brother and win their freedom. Nadira's forbearance and skillful storytelling make her sad situation bearable, and the romantically happy ending will satisfy readers caught up in her life. The first-person account is presented as a narrative written for Umar to read at some later date. Details of Nadira's daily life are smoothly woven in, but they are not the sort of thing–descriptions of clothing and the ingredients for masala chai, for example–that would ordinarily be emphasized by a sister writing to her brother. Although this is clearly an outsider's view of life in Pakistan and on the Arab peninsula, it may entice readers to explore that world further.–Kathleen Isaacs, Towson University, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Her face scarred and honor "soiled" after a brutal levying of village justice, Pakistani teen Nadira has little left to lose--so when slave smugglers take her younger brother, she conceals her gender and goes after him. Her destination is an illegal camp for "camel kids," boys trained as jockeys in the dangerous sport of camel racing. There, she clings to the hope of reuniting with her brother while adapting, often creatively, to her terrifying new environment. Sexual violence is part of this story (the "older boys attacked the smaller boys the way those men in the village attacked me," observes Nadira), and Antieau's efforts to modulate the narrative for the widest possible age range results in vague, confusing language about the incidents. Still, even readers who miss the story's bitterest nuances are likely to be propelled by sympathy for its resourceful, empowered heroine, and as in Patricia McCormick's Sold (2006),about sexual slavery for slightly older readers, its connections to real-world exploitation will leave teens outraged and moved. The absence of an endnote is unfortunate. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (February 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416917675
• ISBN-13: 978-1416917670
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,505,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was a wild child, and I spent as much time outdoors as I could. The rest of the time I spent reading and writing'and running around in my imagination. When I was in elementary school, I "discovered" that my friends and I were really from another planet, sent here as Earth girls to observe the local fauna: i.e., humans. We came from a planet where girls and women had all the power, politically and magically. Men and boys didn't do much! So during recess, my friends and I often went on adventures to save the world. I wrote some of these adventures down, but I was a writer even before then. I used to draw pictures and staple them into books before I could read. And my parents bought me a small printing press, so I created my own books, too. And now I'm all grown up and still writing stories. I love my job.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Compulsive Reader's Reviews, April 18, 2008

By 

The Compulsive Reader (Big Rapids, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Broken Moon (Hardcover)

Nadira's life is set out for her. As a young woman in modern day Pakistan with a dreadful scar on her face, punishment for a crime committed by her eldest brother, she has little hope for marriage. Instead, she works hard as a maid and cooks for a good family, and gives all that she saves to her mother and young brother Umar. Umar adores Nadira, and is the only one who does not view her scar as something despicable. But then one day Umar disappears, kidnapped by men who would train him in the dangerous ways of a camel jockey, With little hope of the police finding him, Nadira cuts her hair and dares to follow him, using all of her skill and chai in order to survive the cruel and tragic way of life and bring her brother home safely.


Broken Moon is mesmerizing. Though virtually unheard of, camel jockeying is portrayed in a frank fashion, without shying around the horrors of it: abuse, starvation, injury, and death. But yet this story isn't all dismal. It's full of hope and courage as Nadira, intelligent and resourceful, bravely disregards the standards her society has set for women and forges her own way in this new world. Though readers may feel impatient for the action, they won't be disappointed if they stick through with the book. Broken Moon is an uplifting and empowering read.

The Compulsive Reader
[...]

5.0 out of 5 stars A quick and satisfying read, March 27, 2007

By 

High school teacher (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Broken Moon (Hardcover)

This culturally rich story is set in present day Pakistan. Nadira's older brother, Rahman, was accused of inappropriate behavior toward a girl in the village. He claims he's innocent and many believe him. Though his guilt is never proven, a crude form of "justice" is meted out regardless. It is the custom that male relatives of a female victim have the right to retribution by inflicting similar harm on a relative of the accused. The father and brothers of the girl who claimed Rahman assaulted her are free to inflict punishment on Rahman's younger sister, Nadira. Through no fault of her own, Nadira is now considered spoiled goods. She has no hope of marriage and a family of her own, but she does have her younger brother, six-year-old Umar, who she dearly loves. When Umar is kidnapped, Nadira at first loses herself in grief, but then develops resolve and a plan to find him. Without regard for her own safety, Nadira travels into the desert in an attempt to rescue her beloved little brother in this wonderful story of sacrifice, redemption and love.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unconquered Moon, June 1, 2007

By 

Kemie Nix "Founder, Children's Literature for... (Peachtree City, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Broken Moon (Hardcover)

Although Nadira is eighteen, she is very small in statute. Living in Pakistan, she was attacked at twelve by men who were seeking vengeance on her older brother. They left her with a moon-shaped scar on her cheek, which symbolizes her ruination for any future as a wife. She can only work as a servant. After her father's death, Nadira, her mother, and her little brother, Umar, move into the home of her mother's mean-spirited brother. Working as a servant, she can only visit her mother and her six-year-old brother infrequently.

When she is suddenly summoned home, she discovers that Umar has been kidnapped. Although, she and her mother believe that her uncle has sold Umar, Nadira's goal becomes finding and rescuing the child. She
fears that he has been sold to the desert Bedouins to become a camel jockey. Determined to save Umar,Nadira disguises herself as a boy and volunteers to be sold. Her offer is accepted.


Told in the first person, Nadira, who was educated by her father, keeps a journal addressed to her little brother telling him of her toils trying to rescue him. The author not only gives us a kind, determined
protagonist, she exposes the mistreatment of small boys who have been enslaved to care for and race camels. This virtually unknown trade in small boys, which continues today, serves as a horrific background to an amazing adventure.