#ramadanreads

[The images are book covers for each of the titles mentioned below and are described in more detail within the blog post on our site here http://richincolor.com/2023/04/muslim-voices-3/]

Muslim Voices 2023

Ramadan is a great time to pick up a book by a Muslim author. If you're on Twitter and/or Instagram, a few hashtags to watch for are #ramadanreads, #ramadanreadathon, and #muslimshelfspace. I'm including a video about the origin of #muslimshelfspace. That hashtag was instrumental in helping me find, read, and share titles by Muslim authors back in 2017.

If you would like to read books by Muslim authors during Ramadan or anytime this year, here are a few we'd recommend.

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers [Audrey's Review]

13 points noun: a person or thing that precipitates an event or change

When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.

But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.

As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.

Love from Mecca to Medina (and Love from A to Z) by S.K. Ali Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Adam and Zayneb. Perfectly matched. Painfully apart.

Adam is in Doha, Qatar, making a map of the Hijra, a historic migration from Mecca to Medina, and worried about where his next paycheck will come from. Zayneb is in Chicago, where school and extracurricular stresses are piling on top of a terrible frenemy situation, making her miserable.

Then a marvel occurs: Adam and Zayneb get the chance to spend Thanksgiving week on the Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, in Saudi Arabia. Adam is thrilled; it’s the reboot he needs and an opportunity to pray for a hijra in real life: to migrate to Zayneb in Chicago. Zayneb balks at the trip at first, having envisioned another kind of vacation, but then decides a spiritual reset is calling her name too. And they can’t wait to see each other—surely, this is just what they both need.

But the trip is nothing like what they expect, from the appearance of Adam’s former love interest in their traveling group to the anxiety gripping Zayneb when she’s supposed to be “spiritual.” As one wedge after another drives them apart while they make their way through rites in the holy city, Adam and Zayneb start to wonder: was their meeting just an oddity after all? Or can their love transcend everything else like the greatest marvels of the world?

Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi Feiwel and Friends [Crystal's review]

Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.

But Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister.

On their journey to Jerusalem, Rahma and Zeena come across a motley collection of fellow travelers―including a softspoken Mongolian warrior, an eccentric Andalusian scientist, a frustratingly handsome spy with a connection to Rahma’s childhood, and an unfortunate English chaplain abandoned behind enemy lines. The teens all find solace, purpose and camaraderie―as well as a healthy bit of mischief―in each other’s company.

But their travels soon bring them into the orbit of Queen Isabella herself, whose plans to re-seize power in Jerusalem would only guarantee further war and strife in the Holy Land for years to come. And so it falls to the merry band of misfits to use every scrap of cunning and wit (and not a small amount of thievery) to foil the usurper queen and perhaps finally restore peace to the land.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir Razorbill

Lahore, Pakistan. Then. Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now. Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.

When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

From one of today’s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that’s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Dr. Yusef Salaam with illustrations by Omar T. Pasha -- Balzer + Bray [Our group discussion] [Interview with authors]

The story that I thought was my life didn’t start on the day I was born

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.

The story that I think will be my life starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

Muslim Voices 2018

Last year I discovered the Ramadan Readathon hosted by Nadia at Headscarves and Hardbacks. It was a great reminder to seek out books written by Muslim authors. I read four novels and a memoir by Muslim authors during the month of June. I’m not a Muslim, but the readathon is an excellent chance to support Muslim creators and connect with others. It’s also a great way to find recommendations for some awesome books.

This year, the Ramadan Readathon is back and there are several other associated activities. There is a blog tour from May 17th to June 15th and there is also a photo challenge and a hashtag so people who aren’t necessarily doing the readathon can still have opportunities to participate. Visit Nadia’s blog to learn more about participation and to find lists to help plan what to read or to purchase for your library.

Another similar campaign is #RamadanReads. This was started by Aisha Saeed a few years ago and people use the hashtag to purchase, read, and promote books with Muslim representation.

Here are the books I have on my TBR this year and I am likely to add a few more:

Not the Girls You’re Looking For by Aminah Mae Safi Feiwel Friends

Lulu Saad doesn’t need your advice, thank you very much. She’s got her three best friends and nothing can stop her from conquering the known world. Sure, for half a minute she thought she’d nearly drowned a cute guy at a party, but he was totally faking it. And fine, yes, she caused a scene during Ramadan. It’s all under control. Ish.

Except maybe this time she’s done a little more damage than she realizes. And if Lulu can’t find her way out of this mess soon, she’ll have to do more than repair friendships, family alliances, and wet clothing. She’ll have to go looking for herself.

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed Nancy Paulsen Books

Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she’s busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when–as the eldest daughter–she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but she doesn’t lose hope and finds ways to continue learning. Then the unimaginable happens–after an accidental run-in with the son of her village’s corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family’s servant to pay off her own family’s debt.

Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of heartbreak and struggle for Amal–especially when she inadvertently makes an enemy of a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though, is Amal’s growing awareness of the Khans’ nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty Harper Voyager

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.

But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for…

Mariam Sharma Hits the Road by Sheba Karim HarperTeen

The summer after her freshman year in college, Mariam is looking forward to working and hanging out with her best friends: irrepressible and beautiful Ghazala and religious but closeted Umar. But when a scandalous photo of Ghaz appears on a billboard in Times Square, Mariam and Umar come up with a plan to rescue her from her furious parents. And what better escape than New Orleans?

The friends pile into Umar’s car and start driving south, making all kinds of pit stops along the way–from a college drag party to a Muslim convention, from alarming encounters at roadside diners to honky-tonks and barbeque joints.

Title: Mariam Sharma Hits the Road Author: Sheba Karim Genres: Contemporary Pages: 320 Publisher: HarperTeen Review Copy: eARC received from publisher Availability: Available on June 5, 2018

Summary: Three Pakistani-American teenagers, on a trip through the land of pork ribs, mechanical bulls, and Confederate flags. It’s going to be quite an adventure.

The summer after her freshman year of college, Mariam is looking forward to working and hanging out with her best friends: irrepressible and beautiful Ghazala, and religious but closeted Umar.

But when a scandalous photo of Ghaz appears on a billboard in Times Square, Mariam and Umar come up with a plan to rescue her from her furious parents. And what could be a better escape than a spontaneous road trip down to New Orleans?

With the heartbreaking honesty of Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ mixed with with the cultural growing pains and smart snark of When Dimple Met Rishi, this wry, remarkable road-trip story is about questioning where you come from–and choosing the family that chooses you back.

Review: This book includes Islamophobia, homophobia, parental abandonment, child abuse (physical, emotional, religious), lewd acts in the presence of a child/sexual abuse, and fatphobia.

Mariam Sharma Hits the Road is a funny contemporary novel that isn’t afraid to look at the darker side of life. As many great road trip novels do, Mariam moves quickly from location to location, never lingering too long in one place or with one character, aside from the main trio, whose independent goals/storylines get lampshaded as the road trip begins. Mariam, our narrator, wants to find out more about the father who abandoned her and if his tendency to just walk away is something she has inherited; Ghaz wants to get away from her judgmental family/community and sort out where she fits in in the world; and Umar wrestles with his faith in regards to his sexuality while on the way to an Islamic convention.

Along the way, the three of them confront and discuss Islamophobia, misogyny and sexism, religion, homophobia, and a host of other issues that impact their day-to-day and road-trip lives. There are few easy answers here, and as a formerly religious woman on the ace/aro spectrum, there was a lot here that was heartbreakingly relatable and uncomfortably familiar. Unfortunately, there are some rather blatant fatphobic comments/moments in the book—including one particularly flinch-worthy “you’re too hot to get fat”—that go unchallenged. It’s disappointing since the book otherwise tackles discrimination issues head on but instead perpetuates this one.

As the narrator, Mariam is a good foil for Ghaz and Umar. Together, the trio is playful, lively, and even raunchy, but in between dragging each other to honky-tonks and teasing one another, their friendship can be quieter, more serious. It’s these more down-to-earth moments that I particularly enjoyed and that stayed with me once the book was over. Mariam’s relationship with her reserved—but involved—mother was also one of the highlights of the book for me. It was nice to see a desi daughter and mother connect so well (since it seems like most of my recently read books with desi characters have moms and daughters at odds, and Ghaz is at odds with her mother in this one). Mariam’s mother is also one of the few non-trio characters who feels fleshed out and not just a roadside attraction.

Recommendation: Get it soon. Mariam Sharma Hits the Road is a fast-paced comedy that isn’t afraid to tackle difficult subjects. While there are some (major) missteps and the comedy didn’t always work for me, there are also some great, authentic moments where Mariam and her friends shine. If you’re interested in road-trip books and the frank discussion of the heartbreaking parts of life, Sheba Karim has written the book for you.

Extras

“Author Spotlight: Sheba Karim” at KROS Magazine

“Hitting the Road with Sheba Karim: The YA Author Talks Islamophobia, Identity, & Family” at School Library Journal