Reem Faruqi

Reem Faruqi writes children's books shaped by migration, Muslim family life, belonging, and the difficult work of speaking up for oneself. Unsettled is her middle-grade novel in verse about Nurah, a thirteen-year-old swimmer who moves with her family from Karachi to Georgia. Harper published the book with delicate spot illustrations by Soumbal Qureshi. Its brief poems follow Nurah through homesickness, school pressures, sibling conflict, swimming, and her search for a way to belong without erasing who she was before the move. Faruqi drew on her own experience of immigrating to Peachtree City at thirteen while creating a fictional family and story. Her picture books include Lailah's Lunchbox and Amira's Picture Day, which likewise place Muslim children and family traditions at the center of everyday school life. Faruqi's work gives young readers specific homes, foods, languages, and relationships rather than reducing migration to a general lesson.