Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/15/2017 *Starred Review* Competing crushes verging on love, looming decisions about college, and a terrorist attack factor into Ahmed’s searing YA debut, a coming-of-age portrait of a contemporary Indian American Muslim teen, Maya Aziz. It’s spring of Maya’s senior year in Batavia, Illinois, as she weighs dually defying her parents: first, by eschewing their pick for her, the dreamy and charming desi Kareem, in favor of Phil, the white football player she’s long crushed on who’s finally showing her attention. And second, by choosing to study filmmaking at NYU, where she secretly applied and was accepted, over the close-to-home University of Chicago. A terrorist attack in nearby Springfield eclipses these big decisions: the suspect bears the last name Aziz, too, and Maya and her parents become targets of local anti-Muslim rage. Maya’s daily concerns are upended, as she notes, “in this terrible moment, all I want is to be a plain old American teenager . . . who isn’t presumed terrorist first and American second.” Ahmed crafts a winning narrator—Maya is insightful, modern, and complex, her shoulders weighted by the expectations of her parents and the big dreams she holds for herself. Brief interstitials spread evenly throughout the text key readers into the attack looming ahead, slowly revealing the true figure behind its planning with exceptional compassion. Utterly readable, important, and timely. - Copyright 2017 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 11/01/2017 Gr 9 Up—Maya Aziz should be on top of the world. She got accepted into film school at NYU, and the cute boy she has been spending time with seems to be into her. The only problem is, she's been hiding all of this from her loving but very traditional Indian American parents. They have already chosen a local college for her to attend and introduced her to a nice Muslim boy who is (eventual) marriage material. As she builds up courage to tell them the truth, a terrorist attack takes place nearby, and one of the suspects shares the same last name as Maya's family. They are suddenly the targets of suspicion, fear, and intimidation in their own community. Maya is singled out by an unhinged student at her school, and when his harassment escalates to violence, not only is she physically hurt, but all of the ground she gained with her parents is lost as their protective instincts go into overdrive. Maya's voice is pitch-perfect; funny, warm, and perfectly teenaged in its bouncing focus—she is afraid for herself and her family, crushed by the hatred she is facing in her community, scared of disappointing her parents—but she also really wants to go to film school and is really falling in love. Sweet and smart with a realistic but hopeful ending, this novel is a great examination of how hatred and fear affects both communities, and individual lives. VERDICT Recommended for all libraries serving teens.—Beth McIntyre, Madison Public Library, WI - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.