Lines We Cross, The

Eleventh-grader Mina is a new scholarship student at a very expensive prep school in Australia where Michael is a student. Michael supports his parents’ new political party that is anti-Muslim/anti-immigrant, but when he meets and falls in love with Mina, a Muslim refugee from Afghanistan ten years earlier, he must examine his own and his family and friends’ values. This coming-of-age novel deals with timely issues of defining one’s personal morals and values, racism, ethnocentrism, cultural identity, displaced peoples, the refugee crisis, gender equality, and religious freedom, and offers opportunities for writing, reflective, and research-based activities in ELA and Social Justice.