Love from A to Z

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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. His laptop was open, an iPad beside it. My bet was that Mike was going to start the analysis as soon as Fencer answered him. But I need to mention that it was only a small thing I didn’t like, for the most part, it was good (although a bit cheesy at the end). 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. 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.

The sight stilled the tears that had begun pooling. I blinked them away and concentrated on boring more holes in Fencer’s shoes. 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. 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. My lap had been full. I’d had my Marvels and Oddities journal, a pen, my phone, headphones, and the food I’d bought right before boarding—a saran-wrapped breakfast sandwich and coffee. I had to gather these and, while clutching them to me, slide out.

From William C. Morris Award Finalist S.K. Ali comes an unforgettable romance that is The Sun Is Also a Star meets Anna and the French Kiss, following two Muslim teens who meet during a spring break trip. How did you like the story being told through the journal entries of Adam and Zayneb? Did you find it effective? Why do you think the author chose that format? Then she rolled her eyes and whisper-swore again when I took a long moment to get up from my aisle seat to let her in. 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. Where Warner taught us to let Idiots burn in hell (in our minds, of course), S.K. Ali here gave us the lesson to eat people alive(Some people). And boy am I forever grateful for that.

When we first meet Adam, he’s on his way home to Doha from London where he attends university. He’s burdened by the secret he’s kept since October from his dad and little sister: his choice to drop out of school. Clinging to his pragmatic and positive attitude, he’s turned to making and building things as a way to cope with a tough diagnosis. On the plane to Doha, Adam realizes that Zayneb–the cute girl with the vibrant blue hijab he’s instantly drawn to– also has a Marvels and Oddities journal–the very thing that he uses to chronicle his ups and downs and help him cope with everything going on. Zayneb also finds herself drawn to Adam and not only because of his good looks–he offers her an Islamic greeting on the plane.

adam and his caring, sweet personality. this boy is so soft, his whole being is just caring about his little sister and worrying about his father, my smol son. Miss Malik, do you realize this could be considered expulsion worthy? A threat, with a weapon, directed at a teacher? Kerr stared at me. You’re going to use this article to do an analysis with the graphic organizer I modeled last class. Assignment due Wednesday, before break, no extensions. Questions? This book talks about things that the nowadays society struggles with - big topics like racism and Islamophobia. What I love so much about this book is how hopeful it is. Zayneb and Adam are both battling adverse circumstances throughout the book–Adam with his MS and Zayneb with the cause and effect of the the blatant racism she’s had to put up with at home and even in Doha. These circumstances often throw them off balance, and it is only by connecting with the other person that they begin to get a different perspective and also grow stronger. Adam learns that the prognosis of his MS doesn’t have to be as bleak as he once thought, and Zayneb learns that she doesn’t have to be ashamed of her anger and passion to fight injustice and racism.