Sonita

2026 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ALEX AWARD WINNER

Nearly 15 million girls, including many in the U.S., are forced into marriage each year. Each of these girls has a price tag—and a story. Sonita Alizada was almost sold twice. Her price tag was $9,000. The money her family received for selling her would pay for her brother’s wife.

The first time Sonita was put up for sale, she was 10 years old and she thought that she was participating in a dress-up game. She quickly realized that, in her culture, a wedding is a kind of funeral for the bride. Sonita says, “It represents the loss of a future. The loss of a voice.” After the marriage fell through, she was placed on sale again. She was expected to form a family, sleep with a man she never met, and then repeat the terrible cycle with her own children. But Sonita wanted more.

In Sonita, the rap artist and activist shares the story of how she fled Afghanistan to pursue her dreams and evolved into a woman who is changing the world:

She shares incredible highs, like winning the song writing contest that gave her the opportunity of a lifetime, Unimaginable lows, like when the cruel Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, and how some of her family escaped, and how some were left behind. Sonita also shares photos and access to exclusive music.

For readers of I Am Malala and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Sonita teaches us to hold onto hope. You were chosen to be part of this world and your dreams have power, too. You can be a difference maker. This book is more than Sonitas story. It is a love letter for anyone who has ever dreamed of more and held onto hope that their story would be different than the ones that came before them.