Review by Ian Keogh

Riz is the teenage son of a Pakistani immigrant to the USA, a status attracting racist comments from another pupil in his film class. Fortunately Amy and Max, respectively with Korean and Mexican ancestors have his back, and when the class are assigned the task of creating a short film they join forces. Riz’s father is less supportive, wanting the best for his son, which he sees as discarding dreams to follow an established career path. The group choose a local mansion for their subject, once believed to be haunted, now derelict and due for demolition.

Saadia Faruqi’s plot is about cross-cultural sharing, not just ghost stories to feed into the film, as entertaining as they are, but food and traditions. It offers contrast, as while Amy and Max are quite comfortable with mixing their heritage into their definitions of being American, Riz is far more concerned with fitting in, which means following narrow reasoning about what constitutes being an American.

Expressive cartooning on the part of Shadia Amin delivers the necessary feeling, while she slips into shades of dark blue and black colouring to distinguish the ghost stories and deliver the mood.

The attractive art disguises a story that’s relatively predictable from the time we learn more about the Hollister Mansion, although that might not be as obvious to young readers. The personalities and their enthusiasm, though, is enough to pull readers through. The title can be seen to have a number of meanings, and while Riz is eventually able to convince his father that film is a worthwhile occupation with prospects, some plot aspects are fudged. Bodies not found after a fire seems very unlikely.

Although delivering a decent story and very good cartooning, the most important aspect of Don’t Be Scared is educational. Provided it makes libraries it offers insight into other cultures some readers might not understand, for instance how Riz’s father considers it important to volunteer his skills to benefit the greater community. Don’t be scared to give it a try.