The Freedom Seeker
Written by Ruchira Gupta
Published by Scholastic Press
Twelve-year-old Simi Singh’s life in Northern India is filled with love, family traditions, and ordinary worries about hockey competitions, school exams, and avoiding the snide remarks of her class nemesis. But when a single rock carrying a note crash through their window during their Id celebration, Simi’s life will shatter.
Her Sikh father and Muslim mother’s interfaith marriage is becoming a target of violent vigilantes. Faced with rising threats, they must make an impossible choice: stay and risk their lives, or flee their homeland. Simi’s father is the first of them to make the journey to the U.S., but when their petition to be reunited in America is denied, Simi and her mother are left with no choice but to attempt a perilous crossing through the Arizona desert with the help of a smuggler.
Throughout her nail-biting journey towards safety and belonging, Simi will face unthinkable danger— and when Simi and her mother are separated during the crossing, each led to believe the other is dead, she refuses to accept this fate. Alone in an unfamiliar and unforgiving land, she must summon all her courage and resourcefulness to survive, find her mother, and reunite her shattered family.
Primary ISBN: 9781339012421
Publication Date: August 2025
Available As: Hardcover, Audiobook, eBook
Middle Grade, Age 08 or older
Community Represented: Indian/Indian American
Themes: Accolades & Awards, Accolades & Awards: Starred Review, Cross-Group Friendship, Discrimination: Racial, Discrimination: Religious, Family Relationship: Parents, Family Separation: Different Immigration Status, Family Separation: On Journey, Format: Audiobook, Immigrant: Religious Freedom, Own Voices/Lived Experience, Refugee: Asylee, Refugee: Persecution, Religious Background: Muslim, Religious Background: Sikh, Setting: Home Country, Setting: US/Mexican Border Crossing
Setting: India (Chandigarh), Spain, Mexico, United States (Arizona, New York)
Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Home Country, On Journey, Refugee or Asylee, Immigrant
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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Source: Scholastic