Language: PG (3 swears); Mature Content PG-13 (genital mutilation, strip searches); Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: MS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
13yo Adama Bah immigrated from Guinea and grew up in East Harlem. Adama felt like an American until 9/11 happened. There is strong anti-Muslim sentiment and her world is upended three years later when FBI agents arrest her and father for being potential suicide bombers. Adama spends week in a detention center, is repeatedly strip searched and doesn’t ever go public with her story for fear of being jailed or sent back to Guinea. She is forced to wear an ankle bracelet and her father is deported, leaving Adama to drop out of school to provide for her family.
Sad and timely, Adama’s experience shows how quickly freedoms can be taken away when fear and prejudice prevail. Very short, at only 84 pages of her actual story and printed in large print. Interesting but almost too brief, it is a good exercise in empathy and compassion.
Michelle in the Middle
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