Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

There are three kinds of people in my world: 

1. Saints, those special people moving the world forward. Sometimes you glaze over them. Or, at least, I do. They're in your face so much, you can't see them, like how you can't see your nose.

2. Misfits, people who don't belong. Like me--the way I don't fit into Dad's brand-new family or in the leftover one composed of Mom and my older brother, Mama's-Boy-Muhammad.
Also, there's Jeremy and me. Misfits. Because although, alliteratively speaking, Janna and Jeremy sound good together, we don't go together. Same planet, different worlds.
But sometimes worlds collide and beautiful things happen, right? 

3. Monsters. Well, monsters wearing saint masks, like in Flannery O'Connor's stories. 

Like the monster at my mosque. People think he's holy, untouchable, but nobody has seen under the mask. 

Except me.

Why you should read this book:

• It may put you outside your comfort range.
• Saints and Misfits reinforces that though we are all different, we are also alike in many ways
• I wonder if all Muslim communities are like the one in the book.  Do Muslim communities in the US function differently from the Muslim countries I've lived in? I wonder what the differences and similarities are.
• It's full of "real-world" issues like bullying, friendship, growing up, racism and religion.

Find Saints and Misfits in our library at: REALISTIC F ALI