Set in the year 2002, a young Muslim girl who wears a head covering is starting a new school. After so many threats and bullying for her religion, she has a chip on her shoulder. When one new classmate attempts to be her friend, she is not sure how to trust him or how to react. As the two get closer, she is worried about the repercussions of their relationship, but is shocked when she starts to realize that maybe she has also predetermined how other people will react.
It was kind of hard for me to remember the paranoia from 2001 and the few years closely following this time, so I appreciated the perspective this book gave me. I think that there were more things that Ms. Mafi could have written that were far worse than what happened in the book, but it still gave the same feeling of fear and unrest for many Muslims at the time. This book is a good reminder for students to remember that people, despite their religion or country or culture or anything else that is seemingly unique, are still people and shouldn't be judged on what others with similarities have done.