The Freedom Seeker

About this book

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.

Reviews

Praise for The Freedom Seeker

A Junior Library Guild Selection

* Through evocative and accessible writing, this gut-punch of a story illuminates the global rise of intolerance and the anguish faced by those who seek safety" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

*This sobering novel’s optimistic and steadfast tone— highlighted through Simi’s own self-determination, and in joyful instances of kindness and connection— rings true across grim depictions of loss. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gupta turns a spotlight on the broken American immigration system and its devastating impact on children. At once maddening and heartbreaking, The Freedom Seeker shows young readers there is also hope--through awareness, activism, and community." -- Alan Gratz, New York Times bestselling author of Refugee

This riveting, courageous, and nuanced story will break your heart right open and with it, give you a new understanding of justice. Told through the eyes of an Indian child, The Freedom Seeker sheds light on one of the darkest realities on U.S. soil in modern times -- the criminalization of migrants seeking political asylum and the separation of children from their parents, no matter the ethnicity. A necessary and important story that will help you see, act, and heal. –Aida Salazar, Pura Belpré Honor Award-winning author of Ultraviolet and Land of the Cranes

"Now more than ever, we need books that tell the complicated and complex stories of our global migration crisis from new perspectives. The Freedom Seeker does just that. It is an important and moving tale about the difficulties of finding refuge in an increasingly inhospitable world. Told from the perspective of a child, this book gives a refreshing and unexpected take on what it means to migrate and what is lost along the way. This is a must-read for young people and adults alike." -- Jason de Leon, National Book Award winning author of Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

"The Freedom Seeker Is a must- read social justice adventure to understand the struggles of migrant families. Ruchira Gupta opens hearts and minds, inspiring young readers to find their own voice for change." -- Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate

“Never has it been more critical for us to attach a face and a heart to all the stories we hear about the cruelties of immigration in this modern world. Ruchira Gupta has been able to do just that in a book that is as riveting as it is important." -- Abby Disney, Filmmaker, philanthropist and activist

"The novel ultimately ends on a hopeful note, but readers will understand that America wasn’t ever the dream for Simi’s family, only a desperate option that was still just barely within reach." -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"This timely book about migration and asylum complements Kelly Yang’s Front Desk and Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising." -- School Library Journal

Praise for I Kick and I Fly

"In I Kick and I Fly, Ruchira Gupta has given young readers an irresistible story, and also one that could save lives. This book is a gift." -- Gloria Steinem

"Any work from Ruchira Gupta is sure to further the cause of liberating women, especially, and in this novel, girls. It takes a strong belief in us, and especially in our young ones, to persevere as she does in both art and politics. The absolute belief that if the heart is moved, so might be the positive activities for justice and freedom, of the mind." -- Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple

"I Kick and I Fly is a powerhouse of a debut. Ruchira Gupta has crafted a page-turner of a read, stepped in place and full of indelible characters, managing to be at once propulsive and enlightening, infuriating and inspiring. But maybe most important, Heera’s story is a beacon of hope to a generation of young people trying to transform an unjust world." -- Gayle Forman, New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and We Are Inevitable

"Having been to the brothels and red-light district I Kick and I Fly so searingly captures, I can testify that this book is essential reading for anyone interested in how to empower girls to break free from intergenerational prostitution and sex trafficking. Ruchira Gupta is nothing less than a great hero, and in her book, she has created one in Heera, as she seeks to defy the destiny of rape that poverty and men have assigned her." -- Ashley Judd