Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card

Given the uncertain fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which attempts to help protect undocumented young people from deportation, Saedi’s memoir about being an all-American teenager, bicultural child of Iranian immigrants, and unwitting “illegal alien” could hardly be timelier. Saedi (Never Ever) doesn’t pull any punches about the extra-legal role the U.S. played in toppling one Iranian leader and supporting another, or about the governmental snafus that kept her, her sister, and their parents without legal standing for so long. She documents her generally happy California life, with typical teen issues (unrequited love, bad skin) sharing space with the fear of deportation. Saedi explains Persian culture and debunks some stereotypes in FAQ sections, but also overworks irreverent language (the Iran-Contra scandal is described as the “vanilla ice cream on the poop pie”). Although she provides a candid, firsthand perspective on people who are cultural insiders but legal outsiders, it can feel as though an essay’s worth of material has been extended to book length by diary entries and discussions of pop culture. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jess Regel, Foundry Literary + Media. (Feb.)