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Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:"You Truly Assumed is a beautiful portrayal of the multitude of ways to be Black and Muslim while navigating our contemporary world. A must-read for everyone."â??Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths. Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community. Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog's popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they've worked for...or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard. "I reached the ending with tears in my eyesâ??tears cued not by sadness but hope and elation." â??S. K. Ali, New York Times bestselling author of The Proudest Blue and Love fro… (more)
User reviews
You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen is a debut novel that blew me away. The story is told from the POV's of Sabriya, Zakat & Farah, 3 Black Muslim girls who become online friends after a terrorist attacks sparks anti-Islamic hate in their communities. Each one has unique challenges. I really loved the strong writing & development of each perspective which allowed us to become fully invested in each girl and provided a safe space to explore the incidents of Islamophobia, racism and the erasure of Black Muslims. This one left me with so much to reflect on. The key themes that stayed with me were:
▪︎assumptions & associations made about names
▪︎ rampant Islamophobia in this country
▪︎ how the intersection of blackness with Islam is erased
▪︎ how Muslims are stereotyped & face daily micoragressions
▪︎ how interfaith families can model tolerance & acceptance
▪︎ how the role of allies must always be an active one
▪︎ how being racist is not a "phase"
▪︎ how vicious social media hate is towards Black women, especially Muslim ones
▪︎ how important safe spaces are
Thanks to @inkyardpress for the gifted copy. I cannot wait to read more from Sabreen. Do yourselves a favor and pick up a copy of this book because this story is compelling and needs to get all the love it deserves. Black Muslim girls need to be able to tell their own stories.
teen fiction - three Black Muslim teen girls (high school seniors--a writer/dancer, an artist, and a computer programmer) from different parts of the US collaborate on a blog that starts as one girl's self expression (not meant to be published
Nice to see a couple of the trolls get unmasked, though there might not turn out to be any consequences for the vandalism realistically. It was also nice to see the victims of the online hate band together--the different communities working together and becoming stronger in the process. The ending may have been simpler and happier than what might typically happen IRL, but it still made me happy to see.