Review by Booklist Review
Two separate narratives run parallel to each other in this thoughtful, poignant novel about the 9/11 attacks. In 2001, Alia, a Muslim teenager, goes to her father's office in the World Trade Center to make peace after an argument. In 2016, angry teenager Jesse writes a racial slur on the Islam Peace Center in her hometown. The two are connected across time by the events of September 11: Jesse's brother, Travis, died in them, and her father has been in a booze-fueled hate spiral ever since. Alia, who is in the towers when the planes hit, meets Travis, and the two attempt to escape together. Alia's fight for her life, and Jesse's struggle to overcome a lifetime of prejudice and fear are equally compelling. When discussing anti-Muslim views in America, this strays toward heavy-handedness, though forgivably so: it's an important topic that deserves more dialogue than it receives. A moving portrait and important look at the lasting effects of one of our country's greatest tragedies.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The devastating events of 9/11 intertwine with the stories of Alia Susanto, a 16-year-old Muslim girl in Brooklyn, and Jesse McLaurin, a white 17-year-old who readers meet as she is spray-painting "terrorists go home" on the Islam Peace Center that is opening in her New York State town. In 2001, Alia explores her faith while dreaming of becoming a comic book author, culminating with a visit to the World Trade Center. In 2016, Jesse's older brother, Travis, has been dead for 15 years; her family never learned why he was in one of the Twin Towers when they fell, and she feels helpless in the face of her parents' enduring grief and anger. After the fallout from her act of vandalism, Jesse digs into what really happened to Travis, reaching some surprising and heartbreaking conclusions. Scenes of Alia and Travis attempting to escape the collapsing buildings are harrowing and realistic, highlighting bravery and courage against impossible odds. Mills (Positively Beautiful) movingly examines how easily pain can metastasize into hate, while demonstrating the power of compassion, hope, and forgiveness with equal force. Ages 13-up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-This beautifully written coming-of-age story traces the lives of two girls whose worlds intersect on September 11, 2001. Chapters alternate between the present-day story of Jesse, whose brother died on that fateful day, and an emotional account of Muslim teen Alia's experience inside one of the beleaguered Twin Towers. The wounds are so deep that Jesse's family doesn't talk about her brother Travis. Her parents are on the brink of a divorce, and she has feelings for a bad boy who leads her astray. After her arrest for hate speech tagging, she is sentenced to community service at the Islam Peace Center. Alia is a teenage girl and aspiring comic book writer/illustrator. An incident at school causes her parents to withdraw permission for Alia to attend a program for talented high school artists. On September 11, she heads to her father's office at the World Trade Center to plead with him to change his mind. Jesse's journey to discover why Travis was at the Twin Towers and what happened to him before he died eventually leads her to a search for Alia, the girl Travis was with when the planes hit. Her work at the Islam Peace Center and the friends she makes there instill in Jesse a new understanding of Muslims and the Islamic faith. VERDICT This outstanding, touching look at a national tragedy promotes healing and understanding and belongs in every library.-Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A 9/11 survival narrative, that of Muslim American teen Alia, alternates with teen Jesses story, fifteen years later, of awakening, redemption, and healing. Alia, a talented comic-book artist grounded by her strict parents over a misunderstanding at school, has come to 1 World Trade Center to her fathers office to beg him to reconsider: if she is grounded, she will miss attending a coveted art program. She runs into an enigmatic boy named Travis, and they form a close bond throughout their subsequent harrowing experience inside the north tower. In the present day, timid Jesse, whose older brother, Travis, died on 9/11, falls under the spell of a no-good new boyfriend and his graffiti crew and agrees to help tag the new Islam Peace Center in town with hateful rhetoric. The young womens stories converge as Jesse discovers there was much more to her brothers death than she realized. While the novels message is overt, it is never clumsy, and Millss narrative missionto portray the experiences of characters from very different backgrounds while bringing the horrific tragedy and its aftermath to life for contemporary teensis fully accomplished. This timely, ultimately hopeful story of love, courage, and human goodness when it matters most is a much-needed antidote to our eras Islamophobia, fear, and the tense political and social conditions that young people are surely internalizing. katrina hedeen (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This election cycle, with its exacerbated Islamophobia, makes author Mills' (Positively Beautiful, 2015) fictive meditation on 9/11 and the 15 years after especially timely.The book opens with Travis McLaurin, a 19-year-old white man trying to protect Alia Susanto, a 16-year-old hijab-wearing Indonesian-American Muslim, from the debris caused by the South Tower's destruction. The next chapter takes place 15 years later, with Travis' younger sister, Jesse, defacing a building with an Islamophobic slogan before the police catch her. The building, readers learn later, is the Islam Peace Center, where Jesse must do her community service for her crime. Between these plot points, the author elegantly transitions between the gripping descriptions of Alia and Travis trying to survive and Jesse almost falling into the abyss of generational hatred of Islam. In doing so, she artfully educates readers on both the aspects of Islam used as hateful stereotypes and the ruinous effects of Islamophobia. With almost poetic language, the author compassionately renders both the realistic lives, loves, passions, and struggles of Alia ("There's a galaxy between us, hung thick with stars of hurt and disappointment) and Jesse ("I'm caught in a tornado filled with the jagged pieces of my life") as both deal with the fallout of that tragic day.Both a poignant contemplation on 9/11 and a necessary intervention in this current political climate. (timeline, author's note) (Fiction. 13-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
