This is a hard book to review. Especially after the events from Sunday when a white terrorist murdered a family, leaving a nine-year old in hospital. The last few chapters of this book were difficult to read because everything is so fresh. I think of Cora and I immediately think of Fayez and how he no longer has his sister, just like Cora doesn't have Mabel. I can't imagine what he's going through right now and what the rest of his life is going to be like.

I think this book is important, and I'm glad it's middle grade because these things need to be discussed at all ages. School shootings are commonplace, which is just horrifying to say, but it's something that happens so often, and having books that talk about what led to something like this happening and the aftermaths is necessary.

I really liked the part where Cora says that people expect her to say things like "she's Muslim, but not that kind of Muslim" or that she isn't the "religious" kind because there's this assumption that if you believe and practice Islam that it's somehow associated with terrorism. We can blame the media and the US for that. But it was a nice thing to add because it's something so many of us struggle with everyday. I know I tone down my religiosity in front of my friends. I do it on purpose because religion makes people uncomfortable. But I shouldn't have to. And the past couple months have made me angry, and sad, and frustrated, and I've become louder as a result and I'm glad for it.

We also see how Parker became the kind of person he did. And it was all because of wilful ignorance. His parents saw and did nothing. And Quinn blames herself for what she did see and how she stayed silent. She's a child through all of this, and at the end of the day it was her parents' responsibility. Quinn's parents did annoy me a lot. The way they don't talk about what happened, how they dismiss her feelings and don't let her speak, how they don't want her to hang out with Cora because they can't afford her getting in trouble?? Like, I take that to mean that Parker doing what he did was somehow Cora's fault because she's not white and Muslim. It's messed up. Quinn's parents never send her to therapy and even at the end her father pretty much says no, and while her mom agrees to it, we didn't really get a proper conclusion.

This was a good book, and if it hadn't been for school sucking the life out of me, I would have finished it in a few days. But I guess I was meant to read it slow.