Layla is living in a time when America is out of control: a new president, a Muslim ban, exclusion laws, rampant Islamophobia, and a curfew, and finally relocation camps.
This story, set in a near future America, features a repeat of the injustices played out after Pearl Harbor was bombed and many Japanese Americans were placed in relocation camps, but this story revolves around Muslims. After Layla sneaks out to meet her boyfriend and is out past curfew - she races home only to hear loud knocks on her door in the middle of that night by the Exclusion Authority. Though not a consequence of her actions, her family is targeted for relocation and given 10 minutes to pack a single bag each to take into their new lives. Phones are confiscated - there is no way to tell her boyfriend what is happening, she has no pictures of them together, no way to hear his voice. And so it begins...
So if you found yourself in Layla's position - what would you do? Keep quiet and try to survive? Or rattle all the chains, put yourself and your family in danger, and try to change things EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW THE DANGERS?
This book moves at a fast clip and will keep you thinking all the way through. It is available in print in our library or through SORA.
"Unless we know our history, we're doomed to repeat it? Isn't that the lesson? But we always forget. Forgetting is the American grain."
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