ALL-AMERICAN MUSLIM GIRL

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 [Published: DECEMBER 2019]