Love from A to Z

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Holding up my threatening note, Kerr outlined, for Mom’s benefit, what I’d done, while I stayed mute, staring so hard at Fencer’s shoes, willing two holes to be burned in them, that he shifted uncomfortably a few times. And was there something that these countries had in common? Come on, people. Someone other than Mike?

Yesterday I took the thin pieces of grooved balsa wood and fit them together in a grid pattern inside the box I’d already made. As the square compartments revealed themselves, smooth and flush without any screws or nails, I thought about touch. The writing was good, It was not magical or anything special. I was bothered by the HP references that are now apart of almost every YA contemporary. I feel authors use it to sound cool and relatable but seeing it time after time became a pet peeve for me, where is the creativity people?! Fencer jumped off the desk and awarded us with his you-got-it stance: hands on his corduroy hips, legs apart, face beaming. Yes, or, to put it more precisely, you can say that it looks like the majority of those countries follow Islam. Anything else? Zee-naab? 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 mom alive for his little sister. Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father. I also appreciated how through her characters main and side alike, the author showed so many different Muslim experiences. From Zayneb who was born and raised Muslim, to Adam who converted at eleven, including her mom who converted when she got married and his dad when he was grieving his own wife. And I love how all the things that make them the Muslim people they are were thrown so casually, as it should be.Love from A to Z is written in diary form; through the characters’ alternating entries readers learn that Adam is hiding a recent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and that Zayneb is in the midst of an academic crisis after a confrontation with an Islamophobic teacher. This book made me shed a tear, and while that may not exactly sound like an impressive feat, you should know that I am an individual who guards their tears as jealously as a dragon guards its hoard. When I first heard about LOVE FROM A TO Z, I was so excited - I was ready to love it for that adoring glance between the hero and heroine on the cover, the hijabi rep, and of course, the promise of a love story unfolding abroad. How romantic. Zayneb deserves to be treated with the same concern and care that the flight attendants show the white girl her age on the same exact flight, and she knows it. But while it’s perfectly acceptable and endearing for a white child to color on a plane, Love from A to Z highlights the automatic suspicion brown folks have to endure for doing something as simple as journaling. In this case, rest assured that you are free to enjoy the thoughts of Adam and Zayneb shamelessly. They have donated their diaries in the cause of… yes, love… on three conditions. One, that I cut out two incidents (the first involving a stranger’s coffee cup, misplaced, that they both drank from by accident, and the second something I cannot write about here without quaking).

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. Adam, meanwhile, is suffering in silence because he's just been diagnosed with MS - the same disease that killed his mother. He wants to tell his father but is afraid to, because his mother's passing almost broke him and he isn't sure his father is strong enough to sustain another devastating blow. My heart broke for him as he bore this heavy burden alone and tried to keep everyone at a distance to avoid them being hurt, not realizing that the distance and apparent coldness hurt them even more. CW: Islamophobia, racist micro-aggression, cultural appropriation, chronic illness, talk of family death, mention of rape, discussion of war and war victims. I used to put on a hijab for most of middle school and high school before I took it off when I was around 17—a year before I immigrated to Europe for college, and about two years after I was selected, the only freshman, to attend a European festival for high school students in France.

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No, there’s the other kind too, and it’s a more prevalent kind: the slow, steady barrage of tiny acts of prejudice, these your-people-are-trash lightsaber cuts that tear and peel strips off your soul until you can’t feel your numbed heart any longer. Zayneb's feelings resonated with me so strongly. I cried a couple of times during the book, and it's been so long since I've cried properly about a book. Zayneb was so headstrong and such an unapologetic Muslim, and I loved it! Adam was a complete ray of sunshine. In a way I felt like I related to him more. From his actions to the way he thought. Literally everything. Both characters had such complex personalities, and were very different from each other. Both of them had their own difficulties to face. Both dealt with them as best they could and in their own way. I loved their relationship above all, and I loved the way I could relate to them. Especially in the Muslim side of things. I’ve written a lot about Mr. Fencer in here. But I’ve never given him a whole section in my oddities entries. I guess it’s because oddities are like the nagging parts of life, things that you can sort of escape.

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.

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But with this news, I’d potentially be getting to Doha on Thursday, when everyone else at school had a week to go before break! That's basically almost all the contemporary ya novels but you know what I mean. What I liked most were the characters. Zaynab was one of strongest protagonist of ya that I've came across. Not all the protagonists had to deal with Islamophobia. By the way, I couldn't relate to her AT ALL. It's a rare occasion for me to like a contemporary ya book where I cant relate to the main character. This book is clearly an exception for me here. Zaynab's journey was not so beautiful. But, it sure as hell was real and will be very much close to some people in many ways. I loved her. Adam is definitely not your typical ya protagonist. Such a refreshing character. I loved him. I needed more of him.(BOYWASHECUTE!) I want more of my Adam-Zaynab. Like, right now! And the families were also one of the best parts of this book. He stroked his beard and cleared his throat. Okay, I don’t want you to see this as a reward, but Auntie Natasha is on the phone with Mom. Trying to convince her to let you come earlier. 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. 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).