In 2002, just a year after the world changed forever, Mafi’s protagonist, Shirin, is a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being judged for her religion, for her hijab, for being herself. Every day is a struggle, but Shirin is determined to learn from the past and build a better future for herself. So she decides to wear fashionable clothes, listen to music, and hang out with her best friend, a quirky and artistic girl named Soha. Soha is the only person who really understands Shirin and doesn’t treat her differently because she’s Muslim. But when Shirin starts to get to know Ocean James Ford, Jr., she finds herself falling in love with him. It’s the first time she feels truly accepted for who she is. Ocean is everything Shirin thought she wanted in a boyfriend. He’s popular, funny, and seems to genuinely care about her. But as their relationship progresses, Shirin begins to realize that it’s not going to be easy to have a real relationship with him. He’s never met her family, and he doesn’t understand what it means to be Muslim in a country that’s still recovering from 9/11

ISBN: 9780062866578