How to survive High School when you're from the only Muslim family in town
Maya Aziz is an American girl, trying to get through high school and navigate crushes like any other teenager; the big difference being that she is from the only Muslim family in her town. Her mother wants her to find a suitable Muslim boy but Maya has had a crush on a boy she has known since Preschool and he isn't even available. Maya feels most comfortable behind a camera and dreams of going to NYU to make documentaries. When she finally convinces her parents to let her follow her dream her school is put on lockdown. A suicide bomber with the same surname as her is all over the news.
I found this book hard to get into to start with, I found I couldn't relate to the main character partly because I'm not familiar with the culture. However the more I read, the more I started to love her because I realised Maya isn't just a Muslim girl. She is a teenager. She has crushes. She hides behind a camera. She worries what to wear. She argues with her parents. She is so much like I was as a teenager, even down to the bullying, albeit for a different reason altogether.
I wasn't as much a fan of the 'in between' passages from other people's point of view. I thought that might be a part I was excited to get to, but I found I wasn't interested in that part and just wanted to see through Maya's eyes.
This is quite a short book but is packed full of feeling and is perfect for car or train journeys. There aren't any cliffhangers throughout and the storyline is quite easy to work out so I wouldn't say that I couldn't put it down, but I can say that I already want to pick it back up.
I found this book hard to get into to start with, I found I couldn't relate to the main character partly because I'm not familiar with the culture. However the more I read, the more I started to love her because I realised Maya isn't just a Muslim girl. She is a teenager. She has crushes. She hides behind a camera. She worries what to wear. She argues with her parents. She is so much like I was as a teenager, even down to the bullying, albeit for a different reason altogether.
I wasn't as much a fan of the 'in between' passages from other people's point of view. I thought that might be a part I was excited to get to, but I found I wasn't interested in that part and just wanted to see through Maya's eyes.
This is quite a short book but is packed full of feeling and is perfect for car or train journeys. There aren't any cliffhangers throughout and the storyline is quite easy to work out so I wouldn't say that I couldn't put it down, but I can say that I already want to pick it back up.