15 year old Fawad lives in Regent Park, a rundown neighborhood that has a bad rep. Suddenly, he loses someone close to him to gun violence, and to make things more complicated, the school bully has begun to target him, and his mom wants him to marry his cousin back in Pakistan. But, Fawad has big dreams to become the first Pakistani to be drafted to the NBA, he just needs to make the school team first.

This was an extremely fast read, that I finished in a few hours. I think Fawad was a pretty relatable character. He wants to live his own life, the way he wants, but he also doesn't want to disappoint his mother. I liked how it was set in Toronto, as I am quite familiar with the area. I enjoyed the complex family and friendship dynamics. I'm also a big basketball fan, so I loved every aspect of how it was incorporated into this story. The biggest problem I had with the book was the ending. It felt very underwhelming and I hated how the conflict was resolved so easily between the two boys. It just didn't make much sense to me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wrong Side of the Court was honestly so freaking good. In it, you will meet Fawad. Now he goes through so much that my heart started to break. Luckily, he had people who were looking out for him like some mentors and teachers. Without them, I feel like we would have gotten a completely different book and it would be much darker as well.

Still, he faces some challenges that I honestly never would have experienced. Other than that, I really liked diving into Fawad's culture as well. I didn't know much about Pakistan, or Pakistani's, so it was interesting to see everything through his eyes. I also enjoyed the relationship with his mother and sister throughout the book as well.

If I could change one thing, it would be the overall ending. Mostly because I'm still left with some unanswered questions or loose ends. Even with this feeling, it was still a great book and one I would definitely reread over and over again. I'm so happy that I got the chance to jump into this and can't wait for the next book Khan writes!

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

I'm sure that others will like this book; however, I could not get into it. I think people interested in contemporary YA would enjoy Wrong Side of the Court by H.N. Khan.

This was one that I was super excited to read. But it is more of a YA book and I am 27 so to me this one seemed super childish. I did think it was a good story and I would suggest younger kids to read this. But this was just to young for me.

Books about sports-ball are definitely not my thing but this book wasn't written for me. I could definitely see some of our middle and high school students really connecting with this book, especially if they love basketball. SO much description of training and game play. As a previous basketball player, I definitely understood what was going on, but it felt like just too much of the basketball side of things. I could see YA readers enjoying this and recommending it to my younger customers at work! 3.5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Penguin Teen, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Fawad is a fifteen years old boy and he loves two things: basketball and his mother's potato and ground beef stuffed parathas. He doesn't want to think about his father, dead two years ago or his mother, who wants to arrange a marriage between him and his cousin in Pakistan or their tiny apartment or his best friend, now grieving his older brother who was shot and died. He wants to become the first Pakistani to be drafted into the NBA, he wants to ask out his crush, protect his friend Arif who is being the school flirt and he only has to convince his mother to let him try out for the basketball team and let him date girls from his school? Easy, right? Not exactly.

Wrong side of the court is a brilliant coming-of- age story with a stubborn and fierce main character, a young teenager with dreams and hopes. It's a story about growing up, facing the world, struggling with bullies, school, socioeconomical conditions, racial issues and Fawad is a very relatable character, flawed, trying to have his life, to do the right thing and I loved the representation in this book. I've never read a book with a family talking about a boy with an arranged marriage! It was surprising, but in a good way having this representation.
I also loved the basketball references and how the themes were dealt with.
I wasn't so impressed by the writing style or by some comments, but overall it is a good book.

I think the concept of this story is good and it touches on important topics. However I personally couldn’t get into the writing style of the book. This is just a personal preference but in terms of the book itself the plot was good however I would market it more to a high school audience based on the topics and language in the book. This is a good coming of age story that highlights the struggles and challenges of growing up in a challenging area as well as facing different sociopolitical issues. Overall it was an interesting book that I would recommend to people it just wasn’t my personal cup of tea in terms of writing style.

Let me start by saying that I am not a sports fan and a lot of the basketball references were lost on me but I still liked the Wrong Side of the Court. I may not know fancy sneakers but I do know books and I really liked the relationships in this book. As Fawad tries to navigate through life the reader gets a taste of what it is like to grow up in Regent Park where it is not safe to be out after dark and violence is a never ending cycle, where a protective mother just wants the best for her kids, and where friendship and basketball can get you through the tough times. I loved that the basketball coaches and mentors were wonderful male role models. The quote from the book that will stay with me is, “Belief in Yourself is a Beautiful Armor.”

This is the HS sports book that I have been looking for lately! I have been searching for a book that was really and truly about a high school student and their love of a sport, but also had some depth to the character and some deeper meaning to the story outside of the athletics component of the plot. Wrong Side of the Court had the perfect balance I've been looking for.

I really appreciated Fawad as a character. He is a very authentic teenage boy - flawed but learning, trying to do the right thing, but not always succeeding. I appreciated the representation of Fawad's family culture - Pakistani, Muslim, living in the Regent Park community in Toronto. These aspects of Fawad's life have tremendous influence on him and his daily actions, even his participation in basketball, the true love of his life. It was exciting to see Fawad navigating dating, high school, his neighborhood, even an attempt at an arranged marriage. I don't see enough of this kind of representation in YA books. The loss of Fawad's father and of his friend's older brother are also such important aspects of the story. I loved the inclusion of the positive male influences in Fawad's life, like his basketball coaches. They added a hopefulness to Fawad's life and story during some dark moments.

And the basketball scenes were legit! The games, the hardcore practice sessions, even the way that Fawad sleeps with his basketball all cemented that Fawad's love for basketball (and his father, by extension) were a driving force in his life.

I will definitely be buying and recommending this book.

This was such a disappointing book for me. I really did not want to DNF this, but I had to stop around 30%. I didn't like the conversational style and all the swearing. I felt like it was off-putting overall. I am in no position to comment on the representation (since my identities are not represented in the book) but I feel inclined to mention some own voices reviewers had problems with the Muslim representation in this book. I wish best of luck for the author going forward, but this debut wasn't it for me.

I rarely DNF books but I really struggled with this one. I don't mind cussing but there was way to much in this book. It was a compete turn off.

This is definitely a book for anyone who loves basketball and has dealt with bullies. I enjoyed learning about Fawad and his family. He definitely has a unique voice and the story wasn’t at all formulaic like some YA stories. We see the reality of his life and all the struggles and tragedies that surround him. Even though it is well written I still found my mind straying. (Usually around the basketball parts) I liked reading more about his family and friends. Overall, a decent story. 3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

Thank you to #NetGalley, H.N. Khan, and the publisher for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fawad dreams of being in the first Pakistani drafted into the NBA, but first has to make his high school basketball team. Basketball is Fawad's life and helps him forget about the neighborhood bully and his mom trying to marry him off. Fawad will do anything to make his basketball dreams come true.

I was not sure what to expect from this book when I requested it, but I am sure glad I did. From this book, I learned that other countries have the same types of poverty and racial issues as the United States (Fawad and his family live in Canada). This book also shows that even popular high school athletes have insecurities and bullies just like normal high schoolers do. While I wouldn't read this book with my students (they're too young), I would definitely recommend it to family friends with teenagers and recommend it to friends who enjoy sport books.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. From the very beginning, this does not read like a well-written novel. Unfortunately, the profanity prevents me from recommending this text, and I already know that I cannot finish it.

This is a copy of my review on Goodreads.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I had hopes for this book being one that could be added to my classroom library and was excited about potential of adding more sports stories that my students could get excited about and also adding more voices to the library. However, right from the start, I knew this book is not one that can go in a classroom. There is constant swearing throughout most of the pages, and it is added in such unnecessary ways. I don't shy away from having books with a cuss or two, especially if the moments call for it. But this book had swear words thrown in that did more to get in the way of the flow of the story.
The interactions between characters in this book fell flat as well. Conversations felt stiff, and the overall flow of the story was difficult to stay interested in.
I think with adding a little more dimension to the relationships with the characters and with limiting the kind of swearing on every page, this book does have the kind of potential for being something some of my students would be interested in.

I don't know what it is about male protagonist sports novels, but they often seem to be overly crass and crude.  Perhaps that is the real life environment that inspires such writings, or perhaps it is just male voiced YA books, but in this one in particular it seemed to stand out because the storytelling by-and-large is really enjoyable, it just has a lot of flags, A LOT.  Beside the language, sexual innuendos, drug use, violence and romance, it also has a few religious and cultural concerns that are possibly just specific to the niche that I review for, but did have me shaking my head out of confusion and sighing in disappointment. To its credit there is a decent amount of Islam featured, some male friendships that are quite heartwarming, and some emotional depth that presents really well.  The 312 page book is marketed to readers 12 and up, but there is no way I would encourage the book for anyone that young, Muslim or not.  For Muslim youth specifically I would say 17 plus.

SYNOPSIS:

The book is told from the perspective of fifteen year old Fawad who lives in Regent Park with his mom and sister.  He dreams of being the first Pakistani NBA player and the linear story bounces in time at the start and he sometimes even speaks to the reader, but the story is all his.  Regent park is a poor part of town pressed right up against a wealthy part of Toronto and the neighborhood is rough.  Fawad is a good kid: he doesn't go out much after dark since his father died, he helps his mom, doesn't run with a gang, he gets good grades, loves basketball, and doesn't have a girlfriend, not yet anyway.  The story starts with him reliving the final minutes of a summer league basketball game where he opted to pass out of fear of the ever looming threat of Omar, rather than take the shot himself.  Omar ends up missing and they lose, oh yeah and Omar is the imam's son.  Under the protection of Abshir, Fawad's friend Yousuf's older brother: Omar, Yousuf, and Arif have someone looking out for them on the streets.  Arif has some help from the Bengali crew, and Yousuf is Somali, but there are not enough Pakistani's to make a stand or demand respect when out and about.  When Abshir gets murdered, Yousuf retreats into himself his music and smoking joints, Arif keeps his playboy ways to take his mind off things when he isn't reciting Quran beautifully in classes at the masjid, and Fawad makes the high school basketball team and finds a girlfriend. Things with Omar physically escalate as well, while things at home have his mom putting in to action plans for Fawad to marry his cousin in Pakistan. 

WHY I LIKE IT:

I really like that Islam and culture are presented powerfully with OWN voice strength and detail.  Things are not defined or over explained and if you don't know what haram or Ramadan or an imam are, figure it out.  I rarely find myself wishing the ending of books were different.  You hear a lot about that in movies, that they didn't screen well or something, and so the ending was changed, and that is how I feel about this book.  *SPOILERS* Fawad and Omar should not have resolved their issues so easily, it was more than a respect thing, there was blood and hospitalizations.  We never even knew why they had issues in the first place. Arif and Nermin should not have hooked up. The whole book she comes across as the strong Muslim hijabi that blurs the lines by side hugging her guy friends, but not being ok with it, then she shows up to a dance, and then hooks up with Arif, didn't like that at all.  I get the mixed signals of Fawad having a girlfriend from his mom, and while he seems to be connected to the mosque it never shares that he understands Islam more than just I have to do this and I can't do this, but I didn't like him going back to Ashley and wanted him to choose his own self-worth and respect over accepting her apology and going back to her.  I do not understand why Fawad waited so long to tell his mother about Nusrat. It was nothing that would upset his mom, I don't get why he dragged it out.  I do love that the cousins were friends or friendly, but were fronting to their parents, but it was unnecessarily dragged out, and the more it got dragged out, the more complicated and intertwined it got with Fawad having a girlfriend.  

 I did not get the mom and sister relationship at all.  The mom seems to have just given up on her, but they seem to spend a lot of time together, so that was a disconnect for me.  At first I kind of liked the twist on the stereotype that the boy was not allowed freedoms to go out, but the sister was, but it kind of unraveled in the logic department.  I am desi, (half anyway) and the stereotype is that the boys are earning before they get married.  So to be arranging Fawad's wedding at age 15 is bonkers.  To be arranging anybody's wedding at that age is, but it is so contrary to custom, that I couldn't even ignore it and move on, it was constantly blocking the story from being smooth.  The mom's rationale is that she wants a daughter-in-law to take care of her.  Again kind of bogus, but maybe there is some truth there, unfortunately there is the big gaping hole that she, the mom, doesn't take care of her in-laws, so why the difference of expectation.  Suffice it to say the mom and sister are both road bumps in the story for me.

I was impressed at how much basketball play-by-play was in the book and how it didn't get boring.  I love that there were plenty of male role models in the community and that the three boys really looked out for each other, supported each other, were connected to each other's families, etc..  I didn't like the abusive religious imam trope.  I'm glad that Omar's dad wasn't blind to his son, but to be abusive was uncalled for.

I don't know why Nermin is called, "Arabic," at one point, that is clearly erroneous and I wish that the condom talk and sexual innuendos were greatly reduced.  There isn't a lot of resolution regarding who killed Abshir, if Fawad caused any permanent damage by playing, or what the future holds for any of the characters and their relationships, but it was a quick read and held my intention and I did quite enjoy the writing.

FLAGS:
Lying, violence, murder, physical assault, kissing, making out, talk of arousal, talk of condoms and sex and getting physical.  Drugs and alcohol and addiction.  Child abuse, theft, stealing, threats.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

There is no way I could teach this to middle school or high school in an Islamic school.

A contemporary for the fans of The Hate U Give, filled with basketball and revenge.

I’ll begin this by saying that I didn’t really enjoy this book. Around the 27% mark, it felt a bit weird to keep reading and I pushed myself through because I hoped that this book would live up to my expectations.

The only thing that I find the same as The Hate U Give is that someone is killed within the first chapters. That’s about it.

The representation in this book is iffy. There are stereotypes and contradictions, and while I myself am not part of any of the representation in the book, I didn’t find it to be accurate. The main character’s best friend is described as Arabic, which I’m pretty sure is a language, not a race, and she hugs the main character, but then goes onto say that touching before marriage is a sin? There is plenty more that I can say, but I’ll keep this short.

I didn’t really enjoy this book, primarily because of the language and inappropriate comments that were made, and secondly because of the representation. I’m sure that with another few rounds of editing, this book would be amazing, but it’s not as great as I expected.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.