I knew that I’d love it even before I had started reading it. I just ADORED him and I can shamelessly shout it from the rooftops. He has everything that a person needs to have- love, emotional availability, kindness and maturity. I love reading about young women with integrity, women who speak out and who live their lives on their own terms. I loved the way she stood up for herself and her community in the face of hatred. She is outspoken, confident and unapologetic. I guess she is my favorite female book character ever. But what angers me the most is the fact that I am one of those who are afraid to stand up and “shake” the world.Īnd that is why I loved our main character, Zayneb. The worst part is everybody knows this, and they even shake their heads to show their disapproval but they are afraid to stand up. I know that despite the huge number of Muslims in my country, despite teaching us all to live in harmony and peace, some people-even the most important people-spread this hatred. I live in a country where more than 172 million people follow Islam, and I have Muslim friends, and I know that they’re misunderstood, not understood at all, and a lot of them even become the victims of prejudice and discrimination for just being. So, it naturally made me realize things in a big way. It talks about Islamophobia, racism, prejudice and ignorance.

But this book is much more than that! I totally fell in love with it. I’d picked it up because it had promised a cute love story of two Muslim teenagers. I had not expected this book to be this good, this powerful, and this important. Published: April 30th 2019 by Salaam Reads Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister. Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.įueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.īut Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world.

Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together. Like potatoes-because they make French fries happen.

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali