Love from A to Z

Product Information

A marvel, written from the inspiration of 13th century Syrian geographer and natural historian Al-Qazwini's, "The Marvels of Creation and the Oddities of Existence" (see link to folio in Comments). The marvel is care and love. The oddity is fear and hate. As the author warns in an epigraph: "This is a love story." And while this is true, it is also a powerful statement of teens fighting for racial justice and against Islamaphobia. Marvels include an interwoven tour of the port city Doha, capital of Qatar and the kindness of strangers (Mr. Zahid, a taxi driver, helps Adam when he experiences his first multiple sclerosis episode). Oddities include drone warfare against innocents and cruelty to pets. But there is so much more to this marvelous story. Please read it, and give it to your friends and family. (Includes an Author's Note "On MS, Conversion, and Islamophobia) Read more From that day, he vowed to record the marvels he knew to be true and the oddities he wished weren’t.

the only issue i had with the book was that the romance was a liiiittle too fast to start with. they were doing the mental 'it's better we dont get involved with each other, i'll just ignore them' just a couple meetings in But maybe Kerr saw my wet eyes. Because suddenly she cleared her throat, and when she next spoke, her voice was calmer.Families can talk about the racism and bigotry that Zayneb encounters in Love from A to Z. What do you think of how she handles her encounters with the woman on the plane and the man at the pool? What would you have done? But maybe Kerr saw my wet eyes. Because suddenly she cleared her throat, and when she next spoke, her voice was calmer. “The only reason we’ve decided to give Miss Malik a week’s suspension instead —which will go into her records, by the way—is due to her exemplary academic record over the years. I’ll see this as a terrible, terrible decision she’s made. Mr. Fencer agrees with me on this.” Her voice hardened again. “But give me one more thing to make me reconsider, Miss Malik, and we may be seeing your college future at stake. I will not hesitate to make that so.” Beside Mom, Fencer sighed as if he were pondering college-less me. Anger welled and churned inside. Eat them alive. I’m going to get him. I’m going to get Fencer. • • • As soon as we got in the car and she turned the ignition, Mom began. “I never thought we’d have this sort of trouble with you, Zayneb. A threat against your teacher? A knife?” “It wasn’t a threat! It was about getting him fired. And the knife was a butter knife. I was just about to draw the fork.” I frowned at the front of Alexander Porter High with its ugly green double doors. “We didn’t bring you up like this. I’m ashamed.” Mom’s voice was small, which meant it was going to be the crying kind of lecture. “You didn’t say anything!” I turned to her. “Nothing about what he’s doing! You acted like it was my fault!” “I can’t prove anything about your teacher. Every time Dad and I offered to talk to him before, you said no.” With the car stopped where the entrance of the school parking lot met the road, she glanced at me, mouth trembling slightly. “Can’t you just graduate in peace?” “You mean, Shut up, Zayneb! Don’t make a scene, Zayneb!” I put my hand on the door handle. “Can I get out? I’ll just walk home like I always do.” She let me. On the other hand, we have Adam, a biracial white/Chinese boy who’s so soft and gentle and caring, and who’s strength is more quiet, it works behind the scenes and shows in the way he is with his sister, his friends, and the way he’s been such a pillar for his family through all their hardships. He’s wildly optimistic and likes to see the good in things while still having this sadness to him that was ingrained in him by losing his mom, seeing his dad grieve and then finding out that he, himself, has the disease that killed his mom and having to come to term with it. I cannot speak for the representation of Multiple Sclerosis in this book but as the author’s note says, and, Adam’s manifestation of MS is just one of so many. This has great representation, though I can't verify the accuracy behind either the Muslim or MS rep, but as it's #ownvoices for the former, I can hope the author was equally careful with the latter, too. But while I appreciated both, and though I found the situations to be charged with the rage and sadness they deserved, I didn't love the characters or the way the story was told.

I didn't have a single problem with it. The representation (I obviously can't say whether it was good because it's not my representation) was a pleasure to read. The character development arcs were lovely. The romance, while not my favorite I've ever read, was sweet. Apart from the fact that somewhere in the middle the story was just dragging without a seemingly good reason, I actually enjoyed it. Clears throat* When I heard that a book like this was going to exists I was ecstatic. S.K. Ali wrote a book that made me feel seen. Books featuring Muslim characters are quite rare. I've made it my goal to read as many books centering around Muslims as possible this year. This book right here is what every Muslim reader should get their hands on. The struggles that Muslim's go through is depicted so so well. Especially, for girls who wear the Hijab (headscarf). Okay, I said, smiling my smile of deadly politeness. I’d recently learned that smiling calm-evilly in the face of haters, well, stranger haters, gets them more inflamed.Then, two years ago, when Mom and Dad had stopped this rudeness, I began not to care that they’d called me an angry baby.

A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes—because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together. Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mum alive for his little sister. Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.I honestly can't impress upon you how much this book surprised me, and in such a good way. I was rooting for both characters the whole time, willing them to overcome their struggles. It didn't just made me cry, it also made me laugh a couple times, and the ending made me put down the book and sigh a little in satisfaction like, "Whew, that was a job well done." Exactly how a book should make you feel once you've finished it, basically. (Even if it did tear at the corners of your soul.) HIGHLIGHT OF THE FREAKING BOOK:that epilogue. CUTEST EPILOGUE FDLKJAFDLASKJ I WASN'T READY FOR THAT The book follows Zayneb and Adam’s journal entries–both the marvels and oddities of their time together and as they come to terms with the various parts of their lives that are tangled up. Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide. Get started Close I so appreciate what S.K. Ali has done. I know I'll be supporting her books from now on and I hope things change for the better in the publishing world as a whole and that our narratives do not become one-sided. I couldn’t stop myself from jumping up. I went to stand in front of them, my arms open slightly, a hug cue.

The reality: raise my hand, challenge his BS, get my words twisted, sulk, and, to finish off, pen my anger on a piece of paper.