Sadia

Fifteen-year-old Sadia and her family are Muslim immigrants from Syria who are learning to navigate life as Muslims in Canada. Sadia is passionate about basketball and joins an elite team at school but learns she cannot play while wearing her hijab and as her coach, team, and friends decide how to react to this regulation, her friend Mariam, who has removed her hijab to better fit in, comes up with a “passion project” to support wearing a hijab on the basketball court. This fast-paced novel for grades 7-12 addresses cultural traditions, immigrants, discrimination, courage, inclusiveness, and familial love and is suited as a whole class, literature circle, or independent novel.