Looks at underrepresented issues within Muslim communities, making a case for forging one’s own path.
Seventeen-year-old Fatima Tate feels in control only while indulging her passion for baking, relinquishing major life decisions to her conservative Black Muslim parents.
Juggling charter school, daily prayers, hanging out with best friend Zaynab, and crushing on fellow soup kitchen volunteer Raheem is all in a day’s work. Though she aspires to become a pastry chef, her working-class parents steer her toward more stable careers. Fate intervenes with an arranged marriage proposal from Raheem and a spot in a teen baking contest. Charmed by Raheem’s romantic gestures, Fatima succumbs to her physical attraction for him. However, when he expresses annoyance at her male baking class partner and advises her to cut ties with Zaynab for dating a girl, Fatima bristles at his controlling nature. Growing secrets strain her friendship with Zaynab while Raheem’s checkered past and a unilateral decision he makes that undermines her pursuit of her dreams make her question their future. The book presents a diverse Muslim community with conservative and progressive values, strong hijabi and nonhijabi Black Muslim women, and complex family dynamics. Aspects of Muslim life are explained, educating those who are unfamiliar with them but possibly feeling heavy-handed to those in the know. While the pacing is uneven, the honest explorations of the pressures of early marriage, relationship struggles, and conceptions of respect and double standards within a tightknit community provide much food for thought.
Looks at underrepresented issues within Muslim communities, making a case for forging one’s own path. (recipes) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780823454853
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
