Publishers Weekly
★ 09/30/2019
Living just outside Atlanta, Allie Abraham is the daughter of a Texas-born American history professor who is Circassian. Allie has hazel eyes, pale skin, and blonde hair, and she’s always been encouraged to keep her Muslim heritage secret for safety and convenience (“I don’t trigger people’s radar”), but when she’s out with her father, people “take one look and decide he’s clearly From Somewhere Else.” Now, feeling compelled to embrace the religion her father turned away from, she begins to explore what it means to be Muslim while encountering prejudice in the American South, including from those who don’t consider her “Muslim enough.” At the same time, Allie begins falling for cute fellow student Wells Henderson, who happens to be related to a nationally known Islamophobic bigot. Courtney (Romancing the Throne) examines matters of subtle and blatant Islamophobia, privilege and erasure, and questions of faith and identity with a sensitivity born of experience and respect. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jess Regel, Foundry Literary + Media. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
The book handles the complexity and intersectionality of being a Muslim American woman with finesse, addressing many aspects of identity and Islamic opinions. . .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.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Courtney examines matters of subtle and blatant Islamophobia, privilege and erasure, and questions of faith and identity with a sensitivity born of experience and respect.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“#Ownvoices author Courtney incorporates a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints among Allie’s Muslim friends and family, creating a vibrant cast of characters who compellingly portray the individual nuances of religious experience. The result is a layered and thoughtful exploration of spiritual awakening that never condescends to teen readers, exploring feminism, prayer, and religious ritual, family bonds across cultures and generations, white privilege, LGBTQ inclusion, and grief in authentic and heartfelt ways. . .Religion is rarely handled with such wisdom and depth in YA, or discussed so lovingly.” —School Library Journal, starred review
“Courtney, herself a Circassian Muslim, writes with thoughtfulness and immediacy about the quandary of Allie’s identity as she negotiates messaging from different directions…The book is particularly gifted at documenting Allie’s exploration of faith; her spiritual quest is treated with unusual depth and high readability…Between its sharp and sympathetic exploration of identity and its interesting interrogation of the undertreated topic of faith, this will resonate with many readers, and it may encourage young people to consider their own spiritual paths.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
“There's a lot to unpack here, but isn't there always when it comes to religion and politics? Courtney does so with poise, naturally integrating genuinely informative context into the story. . .Readers trapped between two worlds, religious or not, will find solace here.” —Booklist
School Library Journal - Audio
03/01/2020
Gr 7 Up—For Allie Abraham, "hiding is easy: reddish-blond hair, pale skin, hazel eyes," in other words—white. That she looks "textbook Circassian…from the Caucasus region. (Hey, they don't call it Caucasian for nothing)," is her ethnic inheritance from her immigrant Circassian Jordanian history professor father. He's Muslim, as is her mother, an American psychologist who converted when they married, but they raised Allie without religion. After multiple moves, the family finally seems settled in Providence, just north of Atlanta, and Allie appears content to be an all-American girl who might even be ready for her first romance. But as Islamophobia—from microaggressions to vitriolic racism—expands, Allie's reaction is to eschew passing and actively pursue the cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage she feels she missed. Perennially youthfully voiced Priya Ayyar embodies Allie's journey with empathic insight, from quiet frustration to careful confrontations, from calm devotion to vocal confidence. She's as affecting with Allie's detractors, from ignorant strangers to unexpected opponents—including her new boyfriend's father who turns out to be a bigot. VERDICT Versatile narrator Ayyar adroitly amplifies an already resonant novel.—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
School Library Journal
★ 10/01/2019
Gr 7 Up—High school sophomore Allie Abraham often feels like an imposter. Her father is a Circassian Muslim and her mother is a white American who converted to Islam when they married. Red-haired, fair-skinned Allie is used to being told that she doesn't "look Muslim," and her non-practicing father, afraid of potential harassment, encourages her to keep her identity to herself. But Allie increasingly worries that she's betraying her fellow Muslims by hiding who she is, especially after moving to conservative Georgia. Her new classmates openly denigrate Islam in front of her, leaving Allie feeling like "a receptacle for unguarded Just Between Us White People ignorance," while at her new Qu'ran study group, she struggles with feeling "not Muslim enough." But when Allie falls for charming, vulnerable soccer player Wells and learns that his father is the host of a cable news show that spews Islamophobic and anti-immigrant vitriol, Allie feels increasingly driven to take a stand. This book may bill itself as a romance, but the true heart of the novel is Allie's experience falling in love with the meaning and beauty of Islam. She grapples honestly with the hard questions involved in belonging to a faith community: What if she's cherry-picking her beliefs? What if others don't see her as a "good" Muslim? Is she still allowed to question or criticize aspects of a faith that she's new to practicing? #Ownvoices author Courtney incorporates a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints among Allie's Muslim friends and family, creating a vibrant cast of characters who compellingly portray the individual nuances of religious experience. The result is a layered and thoughtful exploration of spiritual awakening that never condescends to teen readers, exploring feminism, prayer, and religious ritual, family bonds across cultures and generations, white privilege, LGBTQ inclusion, and grief in authentic and heartfelt ways. VERDICT Religion is rarely handled with such wisdom and depth in YA, or discussed so lovingly. A rich and memorable exploration of faith and family that is a first purchase for all collections.—Elizabeth Giles, Lubuto Library Partners, Zambia
DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile
Narrator Priya Ayyar immediately communicates the wit of high school student Allie Abraham. She looks like an all-American white girl and is more opposed to bigotry than her Christian-born mother and nonpracticing Muslim-born father. Her close relationship with her parents and their protective attitude toward her are made clear as she mocks a xenophobic newscaster and then confronts someone who is Islamophobic. Ayyar soon makes known Allie’s divided soul. She longs to connect with her Muslim heritage in a way her father has not. The divide deepens as Ayyar reveals Allie’s burgeoning first love for Wells, a genuinely caring teen who happens to be the son of the hateful newscaster she abhors. Ayyar lends believability to Allie’s explorations of religion, sexism, discrimination, and herself. S.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-09-29
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)
