Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 08/01/2022 Gr 9 Up—In this short-chaptered, dual-narrative exploration of the tragic confluence of Islamophobia and white supremacy, readers are privy to the diary entries of Safira, a young second-gen high school journalist's investigation into several hate crimes she thinks are connected: a cyberattack on the school newspaper, vandalism of her parents' Indian food store, and what's worse, a missing fellow high school student. Jawah, a 14-year-old child of Iraqi refugees is falsely accused of being a suicide bomber by a teacher after making a jetpack at the school's makerspace and is now missing. Jawah's chapters are brief attempts at directing Safira towards him and through his thoughtful recollections, readers slowly discover his truth. Introducing each chapter are statements in the form of facts, truths, and lies; interwoven are news reports, court briefings, police statements, blog posts, book chapters, radio transcripts, and more. This page-turner is sophisticated and easy-to-digest, a difficult balance to achieve, but Ahmed is extremely adept at threading pieces of a murder mystery together within the greater context of how the media influences youth. The portrait of immigrant families, small business owners both, and the role that kindness plays in undoing the spectrum of hurt—from bullying to the adoption of Nietzsche-fueled white supremacy—perpetrated in a small-town setting makes this a must-read for patrons in libraries across the country. VERDICT This impassioned ride toward the truth, based on a true story, will make readers think about the media bites they consume and white youth's easy access to radicalization.—Sara Lissa Paulson - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 03/15/2022 Ahmed (Internment, 2019) introduces readers to Chicago high-school journalist and Indian American Safiya, who, after an Iraqi refugee classmate is murdered, is determined to find his killer and hold them accountable. As Safiya gets closer to solving the case, her own safety is put in increasing jeopardy, and she starts to realize that not everything is as it seems. Told in alternating perspectives and interspersed with multimedia clippings, some taken from real-world sources, this is an all-too-real story that educates as much as it enthralls. As Safiya deals with racism, Islamophobia, and more, her story packs a heavy punch that brings some nuance to wealth and white privilege as well as to the process of white supremacist radicalization. But the fast-paced, intense story remains realistically grounded and centered on those most affected by the horrific consequences. Ahmed masterfully manages Safiya’s naivete, which leads her to make the poor decisions that drive the issue-focused plot. For social justice–minded readers who love mystery and crime fiction, this will be popular with fans of Courtney Summers’ Sadie (2018). - Copyright 2022 Booklist.