Flowers of Kindergarten

"They demanded a quiet, veiled girlhood. I chose the periodic table, a dream of medicine, and a fight for freedom."

Ten-year-old Sahar has a plan. She is going to escape Iran, attend Harvard Medical School, and become the world's greatest doctor. But as a girl born into poverty and a forbidden faith, her dreams are considered a crime by the Islamic Republic. Together with her inseparable best friend, Maryam, Sahar relies on her fierce imagination to survive the rigid, daily constraints of Tehran.

Then, the shadows close in.

When a violent attack by a radical relative shatters her family's safety, Sahar is forced to leave everything behind. In a heartbeat, she must escape her homeland, leaving Maryam behind to face a perilous journey across borders with a human smuggler.

Trapped in the slums of Islamabad as undocumented refugees, Sahar's family enters an agonizing wait for a U.S. visa. Surrounded by a vibrant, displaced community of outcast, Sahar must navigate the messy realities of survival, displacement, and puberty, all while carrying the heavy memories of the friend she left behind.

But just as the American dream floats within their reach, the world changes forever on September 11, 2001.

Faced with a global frenzy of fear, war, and revoked promises, Sahar's family faces their darkest hour. Will her unyielding hope be enough to save them from the brink when the world turns its back?

Perfect for readers of I Am Malala and Persepolis, this book is a breathtaking, universally human memoir of a child's resilient spirit, the enduring power of friendship, and the relentless pursuit of liberty.