Phenomenal.
Allie Abraham is tired of being a “receptacle for unguarded Just Between Us White People ignorance” and discomfort.
Moving from place to place with her Circassian Jordanian professor father and white American psychologist mother, Allie has been a chameleon, blending in as the perfect all-American girl. Very few people know that Allie is actually Alia and that both her parents are Muslim. Her mother converted upon marrying her no-longer-practicing father, who encourages his daughter to take advantage of the pale skin and reddish-blonde hair that help her avoid being profiled. Allie yearns to connect to her religion and heritage—and to her Teta, the grandmother with whom she is only able to communicate in broken Arabic. Her new boyfriend, Wells Henderson, seems so genuine and likable, unlike his father, a conservative, xenophobic cable newscaster. As Allie embraces all the parts of who she is and confronts Islamophobia, she wonders if others can fully accept her growth. The book handles the complexity and intersectionality of being a Muslim American woman with finesse, addressing many aspects of identity and Islamic opinions. Allie, who has a highly diverse friend group, examines her white-passing privilege and race as well as multiple levels of discrimination, perceptions of conversion, feminism, sexual identity, and sexuality. While grounded in the American Muslim experience, the book has universal appeal thanks to its nuanced, well-developed teen characters whose struggles offer direct parallels to many other communities.
Phenomenal. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-374-30952-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Honest and illuminating.
A teen with a rare illness struggles to bridge her hospital and school relationships.
Ellie Haycock insists that her high school friends—especially her boyfriend, Jack—never know how thoroughly VACTERLs affects her life. If they knew, surely they’d abandon her, just as her elementary friends did. The genetic disease has left Ellie with heart, kidney, spine, and limb issues. She’s had over 40 surgeries, and now she and Mom are staying in hospital lodging while Ellie’s doctors investigate a troubling new lung issue. Worse, Mom not only decides on Ellie’s medical treatments but publicly blogs about Ellie’s experiences and the stress of raising a disabled child. Luckily, Caitlin Barrie, Ellie’s “best hospital friend,” is a fellow VACTERLs veteran, ready to dispense support and no-nonsense advice. New hospital friends provide further distraction—especially Ryan Kim. Though Ryan’s insistence that Ellie should trust doctors who can’t fix her is as frustrating as Caitlin’s urging her to trust her friends, his tough love begins to feel unnervingly like romantic love. But Ellie’s pervasive distrust risks destroying her home and hospital friendships alike. Though the secondary characters feel somewhat two-dimensional, and Ellie’s development comes late in the story, Schreiber, who has VACTERLs herself, portrays myriad challenges of chronic illness, including post-traumatic stress from surgery, with often brutal frankness. Ellie’s relationship with her mother is gut-wrenching and nuanced, exploring issues of privacy, sacrifice, guilt, and love. Ellie and Caitlin read white; Ryan is cued Korean American.
Honest and illuminating. (author’s note) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781250892164
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A layered, entertaining, contemporary rom-com.
In this companion to When Dimple Met Rishi (2017), two frenemies fake-date their way through summer vacation.
Pinky Kumar wears her social justice warrior badge with pride. Her mother, though, is not here for her brand of unapologetic do-gooding. Affronted after another false judgement by her mother, Pinky impulsively makes up a fake, respectable boyfriend and reaches out to the boy who fits the bill: Samir Jha. A friend of a friend, Samir is the total opposite of Pinky’s “Ms. Counterculture.” Stranded in D.C. after a prized law internship fell through, Pinky’s dating scheme offers Samir the opportunity to extend his time away from home and get an in with Pinky’s well-regarded lawyer mom. As Pinky and Samir spend more time with each other, the line between fake and real blurs. But will her “chaotic energy” ultimately clash with his careful order? While romance is at the forefront, Menon explores issues of social pressure, identity, environmentalism, and more. Much of the turbulence stems not from the tribulations of a fauxmance but from parent-child discord. Told in alternating voices, transitions are seamless, and major conflicts and minor loose ends are resolved neatly and in quick succession. Self-aware of its rom-com tropes, the novel delivers to fans of the genre with self-assuredness and heart. Pinky and Samir are Indian American; Pinky’s stepfather is Chinese American, and her biracial (Indian/white) cousin, Dolly, has had both girlfriends and boyfriends.
A layered, entertaining, contemporary rom-com. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1681-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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