Sara Farizan. Algonquin Young Readers, $16.99 (256p) ISBN 978-1-61620-251-4
This provocative coming-of-age story takes place in contemporary Iran, where the sight of a woman’s elbows can provoke police action; homosexuality, “a bargain made with the devil,” carries threats of beating and hanging; but being transsexual is...
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Sara Farizan. Algonquin Young Readers, $16.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-61620-284-2
With self-deprecating wit (“Now I have all the proof I need that my entire life is a sitcom designed by God for His personal enjoyment”) and a keen eye for interpersonal dynamics, Iranian-American narrator Leila Azadi details the dramas taking place
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Sara Farizan. Algonquin, $17.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-61620-700-7
A private New England high school becomes the scene of bigoted bullying in a timely novel by Farizan (If You Could Be Mine). When narrator Bijan Majidi, of Jordanian and Persian descent, scores a winning basket for the varsity basketball team, his...
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Sara Farizan. Algonquin, $17.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-64375080-4
Farizan recalls Jumanji’s eerie atmosphere in this nostalgic, supernatural thriller, set in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Maz, Cori, and Sam, all 12, used to do everything together, until Sam disappeared on Halloween night in 1987. Now it’s 1993,...
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Sara Farizan. Scholastic Press, $18.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-338-82707-1
Since everyone else seems to have already found “their thing,” Persian American Lila Moradi works to figure out what she’s “meant to be great at” in this light wish-fulfillment fable from Farizan (Dead Flip). The 11-year-old begins playing triangle...
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Sara Farizan, read by Negin Farsad. HighBridge Audio, unabridged, five CDs, 5.25 hrs., $26.95 ISBN 978-1-62231-225-2
In Farizan’s novel set in contemporary Iran, 17-year-old Sahar struggles with her love for her best friend, a girl named Nasrin, whom she has wanted to marry for over a decade. Nasrin loves Sahar, but decides to accept an arranged marriage—which...
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Sara Farizan, read by Negin Farsad. HighBridge Audio, , unabridged, 5 CDs, 5.5 hrs., $26.95 ISBN 978-1-62231-488-1
Leila is a high school junior who enjoys video games and hanging out with her friends. She is not enamored of schoolwork or keeping up with her older sister’s accomplishments. Leila’s family is Persian, conservative, and strict, and her parents...
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Edited by Ashley Herring Blake and Rebecca Podos. Running Press Kids, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-7624-7234-5
Fifteen authors offer up tales inspired and informed by classic romance tropes in this pleasing anthology, which delivers an enjoyable selection of kisses, confessions, and happy-for-nows. Alongside a variety of character backgrounds, gender...
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