THE FREEDOM SEEKER, by Ruchira Gupta, Scholastic Press, Aug. 5, 2025, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 8-12)
A girl and her parents flee persecution in India for a life of safety in the United States in The Freedom Seeker, by Ruchira Gupta.
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. —Synopsis provided by Scholastic Press
The Freedom Seeker is sure to be a polarizing novel, with people on both sides of the immigration debate either lauding or panning it.
But beyond that, perhaps it could offer perspective.
The Freedom Seeker puts a face on a number. In this case, it’s Simi’s face. Her parent’s interfaith marriage has made their family a target, and after Simi’s father is seriously injured, they realize they can no longer remain in the place they call home. They don’t want to leave, but have no other choice.
Because of the United States’ rapidly changing policies on undocumented immigrants, Simi’s family takes risks they weren’t initially planning on. Along the way, Simi meets people with similar stories from many countries. The common theme — the risk was better than remaining where they were.
Ruchira Gupta tells Simi’s story with a thread of hope throughout. Gupta’s writing is smooth and inviting, and she does an excellent job juxtaposing Simi’s life in India with what happens after she lands in Mexico. The descriptions of life in detention, in particular, are harrowing and heartbreaking.
Through it all, Gupta chooses to focus on kindness, hope and love, highlighting the resilience of so many who are searching for a better life.
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