As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
(3)
YA
Sixteen-year-old Melati suffers from OCD and calms her tormenting thoughts (imagining her mother's gruesome death) by tapping and counting. When race riots begin in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, violence explodes all around Melati and she's separated from her mother. With the help of a Chinese boy, Melati travels through the war-torn city in hopes of reuniting with her mother. A beautifully written, riveting novel.