I definetly had many isues with this book. Most of them are with the main character. However, it got better. I also loved the messages this book brought across about being muslim and being a refugee.

" Three female Muslim teenagers must decide how far they are willing to go to defend their beliefs when faced with the pressures of life." Gimme that book!

Sadia, a story that could have gone right, but it didn't!

I am not going to lie, the major reason why I picked up this book is because of its cover. I also like how the plot revolves around an athletic, muslim, refugee girl called Sadia. That being said, let us dive into what went wrong.

1) Friend takes off her hijab trope

I don't understand why non-muslim authors who decide to write muslim characters are always gravitated to that topic.

description

Do some muslim girls take off their hijab?
Yes!
But if the 1st thing that comes to your mind when you think of muslim girls is " Let us make her take her hijab off", then no thank you.

2) All muslims wear hijab trope.

When a new muslim refugee girl from Syria joins Sadia's school, she sees Sadia's best friend Nazreen.

“Your friend Nazreen,” Amira asked quietly. “Is she Muslim?”
“Yeah. She’s from Egypt.”
“But she doesn’t wear hijab.”

description

The author said that she has done her research, but that mini conversation shows that she didn't research that much. Syria and Egypt are filled with Muslim girls & women who don't wear the Hijab, so why is Amira confused when she realizes that Nazreen is a muslim, but she does't wear the hijab?

3) Another research issue I noticed is Amira being stunned by snow, when it actually snows in Syria. .

4) Muslim girls unable to play sports, especially with hijab and with men trope.

description

I want you to do a quick search of muslim girls and women who are athletic....
Have you ever watched the Olympics and the World Cup? Because every time, Egyptian Hijabi women and girls are participating in those. Sometimes, their coaches are men.

Growing up, I trained and participated in many sports. In all of them, except for ballet, the group I was training with included both, boys and girls.

4) The idea of women playing sports is a new, breakthrough achievement for muslims trope.

“You’re the basketball player! Amira talks about you. You play in hijab, she said. With the boys!”
Mrs. Nasser looked at me as if she couldn’t believe it.

There were a couple of things that I liked!

1) Controversy when it comes to playing basketball with hijab.

The Coach was seeking safety, which is a very sensible concern to have, especially with pins used to secure the scarf. This is when Nazreen steps in, and designs a suitable playing attire that complies with both, Sadia's religious practice, and the safety regulations.

Although such outfits already exit, I understand that many people have no access/ knowledge about it. Besides, safety regulations vary from one country to another, so that aspect of the plot was really appreciated. This was also inspired by real girls who created their own hijab sportswear, you can read the article about Aisha's story here

description

2) Some Regulators were ignorant.

These things do happen, and I am glad to see that it was mentioned in the story.

3) The Cover.

4) No white hero savior bullshit.

I do acknowledge the author's good intentions, but the story had a lot of issues. Not as bad as the ones in Blood and ink, though.

Click here to read my review of Blood and Ink

I received a review copy in exchange with an honest review.

Hi. I am extremely sorry but I have not read this book. It was my mistake for requesting the book without looking at who the author was. When I read the description, the story was something that I thought would move me. And it still looks that way. But, I have only recently realized that this book is not #OwnVoices like I thought it to be.

Being a POC myself, I can't, in good conscience, support a white author who is writing about the struggles of a POC without experiencing them first hand. White people have controlled the narrative for far too long and they don't get to take this from us. Our stories, our culture, our heritage is ours and they have no business interpreting or presenting it in the way they perceive it to be because no matter what they think, they don't know us the way we know ourselves.

So, I will have to take a skip on this book and I hope that in the future you give more priorities to #OwnVoices books and not sign books by white people who are trying to emulate POCs.

Thank you. And I am extremely sorry if this came off as rude because that was not my intention. However, I hope you see this from my point of view.

I'm going to admit, when I first got approved for this novel, for some reason I thought it was #ownvoices? I realised I was mistaken quickly enough before I started it, but I was still excited and cautiously hopeful.

The novel is quite a powerful one. It seems like it could have gotten very messy, with a lot happening - but it all manages to tie in together quite well. It seemed honest and earnest, and I cannot be an accurate judge of whether or not the refugee status and the Muslim characters were presented accurately, but from my limited understanding of Islam, it was handled with grace.

A thing that bugged me was that, as far as I know, wearing the hijab is an intensely private and personal affair and choice. I have not heard anything about families forcing their girls to wear the hijab - though I may be wrong. It was a little jarring to read about when everything I've learned about that from my Muslim friends says otherwise, but it worked as a story.

The family aspect of it all was understandable to me, as I come from an Indian family, and was also raised relatively conservatively. My parents had expectations that I did not want to disappoint, and I could understand both Sadia and her brother's approaches to trying to find a balance between respecting their parents' wishes and following their own dreams. It made Sadia a very sympathetic character to me.

My absolute favourite thing about this novel, the thing that made me give it a 4-star rating pretty much, is the scene where Sadia is told she cannot play in the tournament, and her team, and then the whole court starts chanting "Let her play!". It was such a powerful scene. It gave me chills.

Overall, it was a good read, and I am very glad I got a chance to read it.

I cannot speak to the accuracy of the representation, but I loved that we were able to see the similar struggles that Sadia, Amira, and Nazreen. We are able to see how they struggle to balance their faith and their Canadian upbringing, their experiences trying to fit in, and how they make sense of their identity as a whole. Each one of them seemed to portray a different side of a similar coin.

In many ways, this book deals with issues of racism and identity. It was about the ways in which people, even today, can be so close-minded and driven by ignorance. At the same time, it was about these three girls' journeys to figure out how they balance the parts of their identity: their religion, their family, and their dreams.

I was immediately intrigued by this title because of the fact that the main character is Muslim, and the culture is Islamic. There are too few of these stories in the world. By default, for whatever reason, main characters tend to be caucasian, so I was really happy to see a story coming from a non-caucasian world. There a lot of seemingly subtle cultural things that are actually a bigger deal than it is made out to be. It may seem like there was an obsession over the hijab, but it is a significant and culturally defining thing. And to a young girl especially early teens, their world is very limited in regards to the things that matter. Saida, for her was basketball, but the hijab is a huge barrier for her to that.

The characters were likable. I loved the fact that Sadia as into basketball because it is so far from what people assume a Muslim girl would be into. This is a very important story to girls this age. My only issue was that it told the perspective of one girl when it also follows a total of three girls going through roughly the same issue. I feel in this story, the impact would have been greater if it was told in third person, or something. It's hard rotating three feelings on something so important.

Overall this was a really good story. It's important, relevant, and has a unique target audience. The delivery could have been smoother, or the characters maybe older, but I feel this author has great potential to really impact the world of cultural diversity in books, and young Muslim girls to finally have more stories that are directly relateable. I can't wait to see more from this author. 3.5 stars

Sadia is a novel that looks at a young Muslim girl living in Canada as she deals with school, friendships, and her true love: basketball. It is marketed as a YA book, so I originally approached it from that perspective, and was pretty underwhelmed. However, when I looked at it as a more upper middle grade book, I found the quality of characters and storyline to be much better. I do think this would be a great transitional book for young teens moving form middle grade to YA plots and characters.

Sadia is a wonderful character and narrator. From the very beginning, I could see things through her perspective and was instantly transported back to the (always confusing, sometimes intimidating) beginning of high school. I am not Muslim, Syrian, or living in Canada, and am almost old enough to be Sadia’s mother, but I still felt her emotions so strongly.

The other characters were interesting, but not as developed as Sadia. Their perspectives and actions (especially Nazreen’s) seemed to change with very little explanation. Additionally, I would read an entire companion story about Amira; her experiences as a refugee were so interesting, but didn’t get much page-time in Sadia’s story.

While the storyline was not always interesting and engaging for me, I do think it would be for a younger audience (the intended audience.) There was quite a lot of information to digest. Some of the experiences were universal: the idea of changing perspective as we get older, dealing with peer pressure, and finding and following our dreams. Others were more educational for readers who do not have the same experiences or life events: moving from your homeland, racism, and the life of a refugee. This helps readers both relate to the characters and have the ability to learn from them.

My favorite part of the story, outside of Sadia’s overall character, is how realistically teenager the characters sound. Their dialogue sounded the way real teenagers would talk to one another. More importantly, the way they wrote (seen especially in the reports/descriptions they wrote for their photography project). It didn’t sound like an adult imaging how children write; it sounded like the real voice of a fifteen year old.(which made sense when I learned the author is a teacher and reads/hears the voices of young teens often) This made the story feel much more authentic.

Overall, this was a 3.5 star read for me. I would definitely suggest it to younger readers in my life to learn more about how someone different from them has so many similar experiences. This would be an excellent book as a read aloud and discussion for families (especially homeschooling families) as well.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

tl;dr Review:

A good story about the struggles of immigrants and refugees and their efforts to assimilate.

Full Review:

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not usually one for young adult books. But since lately I’ve found them to be really well written and poignant, I decided to give another YA novel a try.

This time it was Sadia by Colleen Nelson. Taking place in Canada, this book had some slight differences from what high school in the States would be like, but overall that didn’t affect the story line.

Here’s the story’s synopsis from the publisher:

"Sadia wishes life in high school was as straightforward as a game of basketball.

Fifteen-year-old Sadia Ahmadi is passionate about one thing: basketball. Her best friend Mariam, on the other hand, wants to get noticed by the popular crowd and has started de-jabbing, removing her hijab, at school every morning. Sadia’s mom had warned her that navigating high school could be tricky. As much as she hates to admit it, her mom was right.

When tryouts for an elite basketball team are announced, Sadia jumps at the opportunity. Her talent speaks for itself. Her head scarf, on the other hand, is a problem; especially when a discriminatory rule means she has to choose between removing her hijab and not playing. Mariam, Sadia’s parents, and her teammates all have different opinions about what she should do. But it is Sadia who has to find the courage to stand up for herself and fight for what is right — on and off the court."

As the daughter of an immigrant, I am always fascinated by the stories of immigrants coming to new countries and what their experiences are like in trying to assimilate or not. While this story had more simplistic themes than other ones I’ve read (see: I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter), it still paid tribute to the struggles that immigrants face when they leave their homeland.

What made this story special though was how it really highlighted the refugee experience. This was the first time I’d read a novel that focused on that aspect, and it brought to light many issues that are specific to refugees that don’t always occur when someone is solely an immigrant. I never really sat and thought about what it would be like to have to flee my home in the middle of the night with only what I could carry. It brought home what it might be like to not know what had happened to family and friends that were left behind.

I really appreciated that part of this book, as well as its tackling of the issue of de-jabbing. Not being a Muslim myself (nor Christian – I’m agnostic), I had never thought about how much of an emotional impact de-jabbing might have not only on the person doing it, but also on others who choose to keep their headscarves on.

A third surprise in this tale was that it showcased the issue of racism. Obviously, no one in the US is a stranger to that but I always thought (silly me) that Canada was better and immune to the racial issues we have here in America. The author brought this dark viewpoint to the forefront in different parts of her story and it opened my eyes to how this isn’t just an issue impacting the US.

Overall, while this book is not on the level of The Hate U Give, it is definitely a strong story and includes aspects of the immigrant experience that are different than most novels I’ve read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC. I really enjoyed the book and plan on recommending it to some of my students once it’s officially released!

Follow Sadia Ahmadi, a young Muslim teenager, as she navigates through her freshman year of high school. With the upcoming co-ed basketball tryouts coming up and her best friend de-jabbing, Sadia has a lot on her plate but that doesn’t stop her from overcoming the challenges she faces.

This book is more than just a basketball story—it’s about friendship, family, and the little things that make us who we are.

Such a good book! I expected to not enjoy it as much as I did since it’s about a high schooler, but the plot was so good that I finished the book in one day. It’s an easy read that made me tear up multiple times. I really liked seeing Sadia’s basketball team support her when she almost wasn’t allowed to play in the championship games because of her hijab. Amira’s journey was heartbreaking and I liked seeing her open up and learn more about her. You don’t have to be a sports fan (or 14 year old) to enjoy this book.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The book is about a Syrian teenage girl, Sadia, who just started High School in a town in Canada. Her friend Nazreen, whose parents come from Egypt starts taking off her hijab in school to try to fit in, to be like the others. The whole book deals with the conflict of whether or not Sadia should do the same and how it affects their friendship and Sadia's dream to play basketball. When Amira, a refugee from Syria, comes to their class Sadia is tasked to show her around because of her Arabic skills. This opens up a new conflict in Sadia, comparing her experience of moving away from Syria and Amira's. Sadia and her family left before the war broke out and while it was hard to move into a new country she never had to experience the war that Amira had to.

Personally, I loved the friendships in this book. How it dealt with the conflict between Sadia and Nazreen and didn't let their other friend look like the Mean Girl. It showed everyday racism that Muslims have to deal with and the conflict between fulfilling traditional values and trying to fit into the Western Society at the same time. I think the topic is very relevant and could be inspiring to young Muslim girls. I also liked the "love interest" in this book and how it was handled. A solid 4 star read.

In Sadia, there was a large amount of stereotyping and high school situations that did not feel as if they were real. I feel as if since this book is not an own-voice that it is what led to the stereotyping. Otherwise, I really did enjoy the female friendships.

Sadia is a young Muslim girl who dreams of playing basketball. As she navigates her way through high school, her friendships are put to the test by the practice of wearing a hijab. Sadia must come to terms with how the head covering affects her play, her best friend removing the hijab, and new friend who is a Syrian refugee.

Sadia is a fantastic heroine. Her voice feels real. I enjoyed this book even though it feels a bit like a sports movie; there is a time and place for that. I can't imagine the struggles that a high school Muslim girl must feel as she wants to fit in (like all high schoolers) yet wants to honor her family and obey her religion. This was a great look into what someone else's life might be like.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

The story is about displaced and immigrant Middle-East young Muslim girls in Canada. Sadia Ahmadi is fifteen years old. She and her family left Syria when her father got a teaching post at a University in Winnipeg, which is the capital city of Manitoba, a Canadian province. Winnipeg sits some seventy miles north of the North Dakota-Minnesota state line. It's cold up there at this time of year! it's 5° Fahrenheit, or minus fifteen Celsius as I write this! The average low in January is minus twenty one! Even in August it doesn't breach eighty (25°C), and it's down to the fifties (12°C) at night. Call me a wuss, but that's way too cold for me! You have to be tough to live in Canada!

By moving when they did, Sadia's family missed the Syrian civil war. Sadia has some mixed feelings about the move and her new homeland, but she gets a real education as to how lucky she is when Amira Nasser, a refugee, ends up at Sadia's school having left everything behind in Syria to escape the not-so-civil war. Now she's in a strange land with different customs and language and she's expected to integrate and learn. Sadia is assigned by her school (Laura Secord High School) to help her get up to speed. Laura Secord is (or was) a real person - a Canadian hero of the 1812 war.

But the story isn't about Amira; neither is it about Sadia's best friend Nazreen Hussani who originally hailed from Egypt. Instead, these two are rather employed to represent the trope angel and the devil sitting on Sadia's shoulders. Amira is very much a traditional Muslim girl. Nazreen is a rebel who removes her hijab and conservative clothing as soon as she gets to school, replacing them only before she leaves to head home. Sadia has issues with this and while she tries to maintain their friendship, she also feels increasing tension, dissent, and distance between herself and Nazreen. She feels pulled between these two extremes, yet tries to find her own path.

The thing which seems to erode the rough edges, and bring all these girls together is basketball. It is Sadia's passion. She has the chance to be on a co-ed team which enters a small tournament. Everything seems to be going great until the finals, when one of the teams objects to Sadia wearing what is a suitable outfit for a strict Muslim girl to play a sport in public, but which the opposing team finds objectionable, and which we're told is contrary to the official rules of the game.

On a point of order, it really isn't. The problem is that there is a slow turn-around time for professional publishing houses - a lag between the author finishing a novel and it being published. I don't know when the author wrote this or how long it was between her signing-off on the finished copy and the publishing date (which is this month) but as it happens, the rules in basketball got changed early last year in Canada to allow religious headwear (with certain restrictions), so I chose to assume that events in this novel took place before that date! Full disclosure here: the publisher, Dundurn, is the largest Canadian-owned publisher, and I am on their auto approved list on Net Galley, for which I am grateful since I tend to like what they publish.

Just as importantly, a young girl named Amina Mohamed of the Dakota Collegiate in Winnipeg came up with a design for headwear that meets both Muslim restrictions and basketball regulations. In the novel, it's Nazreen who comes up with this idea. There's no acknowledgement to Amina, so I'm wondering if this book was locked-down before that item got into the news. Perhaps in future editions, the author can acknowledge Amina Mohamed's accomplishment.

The story itself, though, was well-told and moving. It did bring to the fore the issues Muslims have when trying to live in Western society and stay true to their faith: the restrictions, the difficulties, the prejudices and the outright racism in some cases. I'm not religious at all, so some of these issues struck me as trivial, but that's certainly not how they feel to people who are invested in faith, so I let that go, but what did bother me is that there are deeper issues which the author did not explore. The most outrageous of these is the appalling gender bias that seems to go hand-in-hand with far too many organized religions (and not a few disorganized ones as well, for that matter).

If the purpose of covering a woman's body is to prevent inciting passions, then it seems to me to be doomed from the off, because when a woman is completely covered, doesn't that in a way inflame an embarrassing number of the male half of the population with curiosity and desire to know what's under there? Of course you could argue that no matter how a woman dresses, but this is actually the other half of this problem: while all the pressure is placed upon women to tone down their dress (whether it's Muslim dress or even western dress as it happens), none is placed upon men to tone down their behavior and it was this which the Quran addressed first!

The whole idea of covering a woman up isn't only an insult to the woman, it's also an insult to the men in its implicit assertion that they're so lacking in self-control that women need to be hidden under blankets lest their very appearance cause the men to become serial rapists. That whole idea is absurdist and wrong-headed to me and says far more about the men who promote these ideas than ever it does about the women who have suffered and continue to suffer under this oppressive and cruel patriarchal hegemony.

The Quran is quite explicit in terms of modesty, but this requirement did not so much address clothing as partition between the genders, and it does not apply solely to women! It applies to men, too, yet in this story, we find no issues raised over the boys, only over the girls. I thought this ought to have been delved into a little. What;s good for the goose is worth taking a gander!

Why must girls wear a head covering (which technically is a khimar, 'hijab' having a more general meaning) and not the boys? I think there is some mileage to be had there, especially when telling a story of this nature. On a related, but slightly different topic, one of the things Nazreen did in her little rebellion against conformity was to wear (when she did wear them!) very colorful Khumur (the plural of khimar).

Personally, I have no problem with what women wear (or don't wear!), it's their choice, but I can't help wonder how making a Khimar more attractive meets the stated purpose of the garment in the first place, which as I understand it, is to promote a modest appearance. Isn't it less modest to make yourself stand out? Indeed, in western society, wearing a Khimar in the first place is rare enough that it makes a woman stand out more than if she went bare-headed, so this seems to me to be in conflict with the whole purpose of a head covering if it's to detract from attention! That's all I'm going to say on that topic, although I certainly reserve the right to go into it in some future novel of mine!

On a minor technical issue, and prefacing this by saying that I'm not a basketball fan and I certainly don't pretend to be an expert on rules: as far as I know in regular play, once a basket is sunk, the ball goes to the other team! There's no rebound to be had and you certainly can't try to score again. So when we read that Jillian scored a trhee-pointer and then "Allan grabbed the rebound to shoot again" I had to ask: what rebound? There's no rebound from a sunk basket! And even if there were, you can't just grab the ball and shoot again! The possession devolves to the defending team. I'm thinking that the author was conflating regular play here with taking a free throw during which - if the ball rebounds - a player can grab it and take a shot. But like I said, it's a minor issue and we all manage to let a few of those get by if we're honest!

So in conclusion, the novel felt maybe a little young for high school, but then the students were only on the cusp of the high school experience, so perhaps I'm being too judgmental there. Or maybe just mental! I felt there were some issues with this as I've mentioned, more in the omission than the commission, but overall, the novel was a worthy read and I recommend it, especially for the intended age range.

This was a good book, and I really wish fractions of stars were allowed because I think it's a solid 3.5.<br>
<br>
It's definitely along the lines of countless other "slice of minority life to promote empathy and awareness" young reader books. This is supposed to be YA, I think, but it definitely vibes as more of a young reader book.<br>
<br>
The plot revolves around Sadia's passion for basketball, and the tension between her and her friend Nazreen who is taking off her hijab at school behind the backs of her parents. Things are complicated even more when a new Arabic-speaking refugee student becomes Sadia's responsibility, and the homeroom teacher starts one of those "transformative" assignments that somehow galvanizes everyone to find their true self and follow their passion. <br>
<br>
I enjoyed the basketball parts, and also the dynamic between Sadia and Nazreen most of all. I've read things from the perspective of the girl who's struggling with the decision whether to wear hijab or not to, but never anything exploring the wider social impact of a decision like that. It's obvious why Nazreen would want to de-hijab, socially and practically, but Sadia never seems to be tempted beyond just "if I took it off I'd be able to play basketball." <br>
<br>
This dilemma is always presented as the pressures of secular society vs. being true to your culture, parents, or traditional values. I would be really interested if the stories that deal with the hijab and overall Muslim lifestyle ever dealt with the idea of God. Sadia isn't even tempted by social dynamics to de-hijab, but its almost wholly couched in terms of modesty as a Muslim value, and her relationship with her parents. <br>
<br>
She's 15, so maybe this is just where she's at in her spiritual growth, but she also prays. Does she think about God? Does she think about the hijab as something she is doing that relates to God? Does she trust God, or think about why God would allow the kinds of things that happened to Syria and to her refugee friend's family? I always wonder how you can write an entire book about how someone's religion and culture impacts their life, and not even touch on what they think about God.

This reads more to me like a "helping non-Muslims learn about Islam" book than a book for Muslim kids themselves. It's very earnest but ultimately nothing terribly remarkable and relies pretty heavily on fairly simple tropes that I've seen before, like best friend who has stopped wearing hijab as a source of conflict. If I had to recommend one contemporary YA for a Muslim teen I'd definitely choose SAINTS & MISFITS or one of Sheba Karim's over this one, but I wouldn't dismiss it entirely because I do think its heart is in the right place.

Sadia is a devout Muslim, one who practices modesty and wears a hijab. When her best friend Nazreen begins to remove her hijab, Sadia feels conflicted and a bit left out. When she makes the basketball team, she finds her modest clothes hindering and restrictive.

This was a fairly quick read. I would have liked to see how religion affected her in other areas, other than the book being hyper focused on the hijab. For example, prayer and diet were briefly mentioned, but didn't seem very important. The concept of passion projects was an interesting concept, and I would have liked to read more about them. Overall, the book felt a bit rushed and could have used details aside from basketball and the hijab.

I love novels with diverse characters, however this one didn't quite hit the mark for me in that sense. In terms of exploring family units, high school experiences and important female friendships it was quite enjoyable.

An inspirational story for all high schoolers and young adults. A young Muslim girl Sadis, who stood up to her religious beliefs with courage and commitment. She loved basketball and had played with her older brother in their yard when she was younger. She made the school team soon discovering her hijab was a issue.. What transpired with the help of a friend and later her team member is awesome. And an assignment her grade 9 teacher gave her class led to such astounding results it should give encouragement to all youth.........'perspective' can help you change the world.

This is a YA contemporary issues novel, heavily-centered on the Muslim identity of its main character, Sadia.

Sadia is a fifteen-year-old, ninth-grade (high school freshman) Syrian immigrant to Canada. She’s lived in Canada for three years, and she arrived before the civil war hit Syria because her parents had reached out to relatives living in England. From there her family received visas for Canada and they packed and moved, taking most of their belongings with them.

So when a new girl, a Syrian refugee named Amira, joins Sadia’s class, Sadia is reminded how good she has had it and just how bad life could have been if her parents hadn’t moved Sadia and her older brother, Aazim while they had the chance – before the borders closed and stranded tens of thousands of Syrian refugees like Amira and her family.

Now as far as YA novels go, this book was tame. I’d still label it a young adult novel, only because the heroine is in high school and most of the scenes take place at her school. She’s also fourteen, and that’s not a common age for heroines in YA fiction. That could make it a little tougher to market… It’s not quite upper MG and it’s not entirely YA (unless there’s such a thing as lower YA reads?) BUT librarians, teachers and parents, this is a great read where you won’t have to concern yourselves about vetting for explicit content (i.e. sex, drinking, violence, swearing). Refreshingly, it’s a clean/sweet read.

What I loved about this book was the subtle twists the author, Colleen Nelson, peppered in and so masterfully that I was left grinning but also feeling really stupid that I didn’t see it coming. And all the plot strands tied together neatly enough to create this powerfully touching story.

Here’s where my spoilers come in; you’ve been warned — avert your eyes!

*
**
***
****
***
**
*

Like I said, the book’s conflict didn’t go down the paths I expected. I held all these preconceived notions, and then when events didn’t unfold the way I predicted, I was more relieved than I expected…but also a bit confused. I slept on this review, and now I know what’s bothering me.

Here’s an example of a conflict strand: at one point Sadia was being pressured by her Muslim friend, Nazreen to go with her to a parents-free party and lie to their parents about where they’ll really be. I really thought this would be the Black Moment, you know, but Sadia’s parents find out because Sadia realizes she can’t lie to them, and they don’t give her permission to go (meaning Nazreen can’t go either). The girls aren’t disappointed, and the party host – Sadia’s basketball teammate – volunteers to host a separate dinner to compensate for their absence at the party. Win-win, right?

But it felt sort of like a cop-out. And only because most of the other plot strands fell into this pattern: 1) Aazim’s secret is handled with minimal conflict. 2) Nazreen’s attitude was wild and unpredictable (I would have either kicked her to the curb, or told her to straighten her moods out). 3) the arsehole Lazers coach and his team allowing Amira to play (when they didn’t at first). 4) And Amira was there, sure, but as a remainder that Sadia need not only appreciate all the blessings in her life, but to pass on/pay forward that good luck to others (i.e. Amira, Allan, Josh).

And that felt like the bottom line of this morality tale: like there are so many perspectives out there for you to take into consideration moment by precious moment.

The biggest mystery remains to be Aazim’s girlfriend or not-girlfriend. Like what happened to her – to them?! I thought that would be mentioned, even in passing by Sadia to Aazim, but na-da. Nothing. I wanted some closure!

SPOILERS END HERE.

That little mystery aside… Overall, this book was maddeningly adorable…also hard to read because as a Muslim I know I’m still more like Sadia at the start of her journey. I’m not entirely attuned to what other Muslims (especially women who’ve chosen to wear their hijabs) suffer, because all I have is my narrative as a non-headscarf wearer as experience. It certainly opened my eyes, even if a little, to the sort of small atrocities victims endure from blatant, and seriously hurtful ignorance. All I gotta say is begin to #educateyourself, and you can do that by picking up Sadia.

To close off this review, I’ll leave you with my favorite quote. It's the closing line of the book:

>>I swallowed back a lump in my throat. "If you give a kid a teacher..." I whispered.
"She'll want to learn," Nazreen added, with a smile.
"And if she wants to learn..." Amira continued quietly.
"She'll want to change the world."<<

*wipes happy tears*