In a book club and starting to plan your reads for next year? Check out our 2025 picks.

BookBrowse Reviews All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney

All-American Muslim Girl

by Nadine Jolie Courtney
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • Nov 12, 2019, 432 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2021, 432 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Reviews

BookBrowse:


Sixteen-year-old Allie Abraham begins to explore her heritage as a Circassian-American Muslim and deals with the diverse perceptions of her high school classmates, her fellow Muslims and her family.

16-year-old Allie (Alia) Abraham, with her fair coloring, has always been able to "pass" for an All-American girl, rather than the ethnically Circassian daughter of Muslims from Jordan that she is. Then, a series of small but crucial incidents of religious intolerance and xenophobia awaken her awareness of herself as a Muslim. Her parents do not actively practice their religion; her professor father believes in science more than faith, and her mother was raised as a Catholic but converted when she married "Mo" (Muhammad). Allie finds support and instruction among fellow Muslims of various backgrounds in her Atlanta high school and the larger community, reading the Koran, visiting a mosque, praying at designated times with the accompanying preparations, experimenting with a hijab, learning Arabic, and fasting for Ramadan, all for the first time.

As she explores her identity, she also deals with the reactions of friends who were unaware of her religion but now consider her a "good" (as opposed to threatening) Muslim, a status she finds confusing and unsatisfying. Meanwhile, she initiates what she calls "halal dating" with one of the nicest, most understanding and patient young men readers of young adult fiction will ever meet—and somehow he's nice in spite of his invective-spouting media darling father.

When teens find their passion, they tend to jump right in and want to absorb everything right away; Allie's approach to Islam is in this vein. As a result, there is a lot of introspection and questioning, which can slow a story down if not handled well. Here, the author uses an almost Socratic approach to Allie's religious self-discoveries. A chapter in which she and her newfound study group heatedly discuss being both feminist and Muslim presents an astonishing amount of information in the form of a natural and fascinating dialogue that also reveals the personalities and backgrounds of the other young women in the group. The "good Muslim" theme could become pedantic, but when presented as part of Allie's conversations with schoolmates it comes across as organic instead. Allie's close-knit family affords additional opportunities to explore many aspects of culture (food especially has a way of bringing everyone together) and religious practice.

Allie's boyfriend Wells Henderson is perfect but problematic. Allie is new to both Atlanta and her school; given her red-blonde hair, it is no stretch of the imagination that her classmates would be unaware that she is Muslim. But they are equally unaware that Wells' father is the locally famous (or infamous) Jack Henderson, star of his own Atlanta media platform in which he freely and loudly advocates borderline white (male) supremacy. Henderson is a common name, and Wells has managed to come of age as an apple fallen far from the tree—but, given the speed with which news of Allie's religion spreads through the high school when she "comes out," Wells' secret seems unlikely.

Despite this minor narrative flaw, the book succeeds at being highly readable—educational but not didactic—with a fresh and engaging point-of-view. And in the face of post 9/11 Islamophobia in the media, novels like All-American Muslim Girl are important vehicles for helping young people understand a frequently misunderstood religion while enjoying a universal coming-of-age story.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in January 2020, and has been updated for the February 2021 edition. Click here to go to this issue.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked All-American Muslim Girl, try these:

  • The Silence that Binds Us jacket

    The Silence that Binds Us

    by Joanna Ho

    Published 2023

    About This book

    Joanna Ho, New York Times bestselling author of Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, has written an exquisite, heart-rending debut young adult novel that will inspire all to speak truth to power.

  • The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen jacket

    The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen

    by Isaac Blum

    Published 2023

    About This book

    The Chosen meets Adam Silvera in this irreverent and timely story of worlds colliding in friendship, betrayal, and hatred.

We have 6 read-alikes for All-American Muslim Girl, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    Something, Not Nothing
    by Sarah Leavitt
    In 2020, after a lifetime of struggling with increasingly ill health, Sarah Leavitt's partner, ...
  • Book Jacket
    A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens
    by Raul Palma
    Raul Palma's debut novel A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens introduces Hugo Contreras, who came to the ...
  • Book Jacket
    The MANIAC
    by Benjamin Labatut
    The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut is an ambitious work that falls squarely into the category of fiction...
  • Book Jacket: Blood Test
    Blood Test
    by Charles Baxter
    Brock Hobson is a loving single father, a Sunday School teacher, and an upstanding and honest ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Libby Lost and Found
    by Stephanie Booth

    Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.

Who Said...

He who opens a door, closes a prison

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.