Internment

Starred review from January 1, 2019
Layla was a regular American teenager until the new Islamophobic president enacted Exclusion Laws.Muslims are being rounded up, their books burned, and their bodies encoded with identification numbers. Neighbors are divided, and the government is going after resisters. Layla and her family are interned in the California desert along with thousands of other Muslim Americans, but she refuses to accept the circumstances of her detention, plotting to take down the system. She quickly learns that resistance is no joke: Two hijabi girls are beaten and dragged away screaming after standing up to the camp director. There are rumors of people being sent to black-op sites. Some guards seem sympathetic, but can they be trusted? Taking on Islamophobia and racism in a Trump-like America, Ahmed's (Love, Hate & Other Filters, 2018) magnetic, gripping narrative, written in a deeply humane and authentic tone, is attentive to the richness and complexity of the social ills at the heart of the book. Layla grows in consciousness as she begins to understand her struggle not as an individual accident of fate, but as part of an experience of oppression she shares with millions. This work asks the question many are too afraid to confront: What will happen if xenophobia and racism are allowed to fester and grow unabated?A reminder that even in a world filled with divisions and right-wing ideology, young people will rise up and demand equality for all. (Realistic fiction. 13-18)

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Starred review from March 1, 2019

Gr 8 Up-In a world disturbingly similar to our own, the president of the United States incites hate, sending Muslim Americans to a prison camp in the California desert, near Manzanar, where those of Japanese descent were incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II. Seventeen-year-old Layla burns with anger-at the malevolent Director, who runs the camp; at the complicit Muslim American "minders" who work for the camp; and at those who let these injustices happen. Though Layla's parents worry about her, she is compelled to shut down the camp, with the help of fellow prisoners; her boyfriend, David, who's on the outside; and a seemingly sympathetic guard. As in Ahmed's debut, Love, Hate and Other Filters, a teen grapples with both typical adolescent concerns and burdens that weigh heavily. Layla wonders if putting her family in danger is worth taking a stand. Though this tense novel brims with action, it also gives Layla, and readers, space to contemplate questions like this. She darkly notes that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, yet she also realizes that "forgetting is in the American grain." Teens who finish Ahmed's captivating work won't soon overlook the ugly truths stamped into our nation's history. VERDICT Sensitive and stirring. For all collections.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2019
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Set shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Ahmed's novel presents a chilling depiction of America, in which U.S. citizens allow themselves to be controlled by prejudice and fear and succumb to the hateful rhetoric of a populist leader. Seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are among the Muslims rounded up and transported to Manzanar, an internment camp for Muslim American citizens. While most people quietly comply, Layla is determined to fight back for the freedom that is rightfully hers. Layla finds allies both inside and outside the camp, and before long, she herself is at the center of a rebellion against the despicable people in charge. This is a poignant, necessary story that paints a very real, very frank picture of hatred and ignorance, while also giving readers and marginalized individuals hope. It emphasizes that the oppressed have a voice and the power to speak up and fight back, while also reminding us that all citizens have the obligation, responsibility, and power to raise their voices and defend their fellow citizens from mistreatment or abuse. Though it might recall dystopian novels of the recent past, this carries so much more weight and is infinitely more terrifying, since its setting?a near-future U.S.?could very well exist today, tomorrow, or only a handful of years from now. This timely, important novel should spark many conversations about contemporary issues.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)