A Kirkus Best Book of 2019 A 2021 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book Nadine Jolie Courtney’s All-American Muslim Girl is a relevant, relatable story of being caught between two worlds, and the struggles and hard-won joys of finding your place. Allie Abraham has it all going for her–she’s a straight-A student, with good friends and a close-knit family, and she’s dating popular, sweet … a close-knit family, and she’s dating popular, sweet Wells Henderson. One problem: Wells’s father is Jack Henderson, America’s most famous conservative shock jock, and Allie hasn’t told Wells that her family is Muslim. It’s not like Allie’s religion is a secret. It’s just that her parents don’t practice, and raised her to keep it to herself.
But as Allie witnesses Islamophobia in her small town and across the nation, she decides to embrace her faith–study, practice it, and even face misunderstanding for it. Who is Allie, if she sheds the façade of the “perfect” all-American girl?
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4.75 stars
Beautiful cover and an even beautiful story in this book. I am always here for reading more Muslim voices and this particular one is by far the most interesting I’ve ever read.
We get to see many different perspectives from different Muslims and it got me thinking a lot. There were some aspects where I agreed and some that I didn’t and I loved exploring that while reading it.
This book had a great balance for light heartiness and hard hitting moments which is my type of book to read.
I loved our main character Allie (Aka Alia). Although she and I are different in how we are Muslims, I found myself relating to her in some moments and rooting and feeling ached for her at the same time.
We see how she struggles to navigate her two worlds, being both (and looking) like an American and being a Muslim. And it was intense reading her struggles. I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her while reading that she belongs and she is enough!!!!!
I loved her journey in getting into her religion even more and it made my heart warm so much reading her baby steps.
I loved the romance between her and Wells. They were so cute and adorable and they deserve the world!!!!!! I love how healthy their relationship is and no unnecessary drama is in this book!!!!
I loved how family plays a huge part in this book, both in good ways and bad ways.
There is also the topic of Islamophobia and stereotypes on how western society sees Muslim and I never see the latter gets discussed in a book so it was refreshing.
Also, I loved learning about Allie’s heritage, Circassian. I learned many valuable information about it and I will be doing more research about it because I couldn’t get enough of it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and more people need to read it so please give it a go!!!!!
Wow! Can I say that again? WOW!
So much to say, but I lack the words! This is a coming of age, coming into yourself story like no other I’ve read. Given the climate in the world today, Courtney could not have chosen a better time to tell us her story, and writes it masterfully.
Alia [who goes by Allie] is the daughter of a Muslim father and an American mother. This is her story. The story of how she fights to learn about and claim her Islam heritage; how she finds herself teetering on the precipice of two colliding worlds; and how she unearths her true self amid the self-doubt and seeming inconsistencies.
Alia, her family, and her friends, are sympathetic characters. Caught in the crosshairs of a politically volatile world, this is the story of how they stay true to themselves.
To say I could not put it down is no exaggeration; this book held me in thrall from the first words to the very last one.
Read it, I not only recommend it, I urge you to make time for it!
This was a beautiful book with a beautiful message. From the moment you start reading you just want to consume the entire story. It was definitely hard to put down. As a daughter of immigrants who has always been too Americanized for my culture and too ethnic for most, I found this story to be real and so relevant to what is going on in the world. Absolutely a must read!