This is a cute slice-of-life story about a young Muslim girl navigating being a teenager, friendships, boys, family, religion, and finding her voice after being assaulted.

I liked that Janna has a young voice--she sounds like an authentic teenage girl. She has no special talents, doesn't do anything out of the ordinary, and doesn't magically come up with perfect solutions to her problems. But she does rely on her community, older people (both a few years older and a few decades older), and books to find encouragement, wisdom, and advice.

I liked that her early opinions about people change as she gets to know them.

I liked that her faith is important to her daily life and influences how she makes relational decisions. It is also a source of personal conflict that she has to struggle through. Growing up in a practicing Christian home, I understand many of the conflicts and choices that Janna had to mull over. Church kids and Muslim kids have pretty similar rules.

The story is imbued with Muslim-ness but not in a preachy way. For example, it doesn't touch the five pillars and briefly mentions ramadan but doesn't go into detail. Instead, it shows scenes of what you might pick up if you just hung around a Muslim family for a while-- someone yelling at a kid who is getting a little too into washing before prayers, the names of different clothing pieces, the fact that you can't make visual depictions of the Prophet.

Recommended if you like reading about teens being teens.

PS audiobook was so-so. Narrator sounded like a teenager reading a diary... unnatural sentence emphasis.