PRAISE FOR THE UNLOVABLE ALINA BUTT A heartwarming story of a misfit with no confidence who rises above it all Filled with empathy heart and humor this book made me laugh and cry at moments A compelling read that had me hooked to the end Alina Butt is a very lovable and memorable character She stays with you long after you finish the last page and close the book Shirin Shamsi author of The Moon from Dehradun A Story of Partition Hilarious and poignant New immigrants will identify with Alina's problems of fitting in Alina's journey from being a scared girl lacking confidence to owning her heritage and being kind to everyone no matter what is inspiring and heartwarming Alina Butt is anything but t unlovable Mahtab Narsimhan award winning author of The Tiffin Finding a new author is like finding a new friend I'm sure you're going to find Alina and Ambreen to be quite lovable Eric Walters author of the Governor General's Literary Award winning The King of Jam Sandwiches
1 Chapter One Okay get into line everyone Alphabetical order sang Ms. Pheasant a bright smile on her face third I knew it had been too good to be true It was my day at Greenhill Middle School and up until that moment I had kept my secret safe I had successfully been able to hide my true identity Assemblies in England really sucked Back in Pakistan we never had to line up in a particular order We could stand wherever we wanted As long as we were as silent as a lizard on the wall That was what my teacher would say Instead of spiders there were lizards lurking around everywhere Those are just a few of the many things that are different different here We moved to England three years ago and this is already my fourth time being the new kid You would think I'd be a pro at the whole thing by now but nope
AMBREEN BUTT HUSSAIN not even close I'm still as awkward as ever One thing I have learned though is that revealing my name leads to a year of constant mockery Which is why I'd decided I was not going to let that happen again Sixth grade was going to be different No matter what Let's go class Choppity chop chop Any instruction Ms. Pheasant gave in her soft voice sounded like a song My eyes followed her footsteps as she walked around the room her long ponytail and flowery dress swishing as she moved A feeling of dread filled my entire body All the kids around me started racing to line up What was the rush We all knew our spots My heart pounded as I quietly sneaked to the front of the line I stood there nervously with my head down trying to breathe as little as possible pretending I was invisible Ah I should've known better For some people the front of the line was too prized a place to let go of without a fight That's not your spot Adam Atkins shouted wedging himself ahead of me Go back to your own spot Oh no I knew what wa coming I started to prepare myself scrunching up my face and squinting my eyes as if someone was about to hit me hard Your last name is Butt Go back to your spot Adam leaned in and whispered the last word the one I had been dreading butthead 2
THE UNLOVABLE ALINA BUTT There it was like a slap in the face No. Sixth grade was supposed to be different I had already come too far I was not going to give up without a fight Oh um n no my last name is a actually Anwar Alina Anwar I couldn't even look at him as I said it I'm not a very good liar Some would say that's a good thing but it's a skill that would come in pretty handy in moments like these Anwar is my dad's first name and my middle name I know Weird But I thought it might work It didn't Adam kept going getting louder by the second his greeny gold hawk eyes hooked onto their prey me The other kids started snickering and whispering Now I felt all eyes on me So much for being invisible I was the total opposite more like a fluorescent alien and not the cool kind a kid might want to befriend but a weird ugly one that they'd just stare at from a distance I could feel my ears burning Beads of sweat formed on my nose Ms. Pheasant walked up calmly and whispered to us both Alina will stand in the front Adam started to protest But she's ly Alina will stand in the front she said again more firmly She smiled and then winked at me Adam scowled crossed his arms and stomped in line behind me 3
