Saadia Faruqi

"Yusuf is excited to start middle school in his small Texas town, but with the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks coming up, suddenly it feels like the country's same anger and grief is all focused on his Muslim community"--

"Yasmin tackles every challenge she faces with her head and her heart! In this collection of four new stories, she helps fix a recycling problem at school, avoids a science fair fiasco, solves a library mystery, and gathers her courage to join in the fun. Yasmin is always willing to give it a try!"--Back cover.

Sara and Elizabeth are very different people--Sara knows no one in her new middle school, unlike where she went before, the small Islamic academy she spent most of her life in; whereas Elizabeth has always been here, but recently her best friend has been ditching her to spend time with the popular girl, and her British mother seems to be falling into a depression. Thrown together in an after-school cooking class, Sara and Elizabeth at first clash,...

When Marya's third-grade class participates in taking care of the school's new garden, Marya wants to be the student leader in charge, but every time she tries to prove she has what it takes to be a leader things get messy.

As their makerspace project the students in Yasmin's second grade class are building a city: there are houses, a school, a church, even a castle, but Yasmin is not sure what to build--until inspiration strikes.

When spring arrives, Yasmin and her Baba plant a garden but Yasmin's flower seedling keeps wilting until her Nani sits in the sun, revealing to Yasmin what the plant needs.

When Yasmin's father explains to her about explorers and maps, Yasmin decides to make a map of her neighborhood and she brings it along on a trip to the farmers' market with her mother--but will the map help her when they are separated?

Yasmin gathers a cape and mask and sets out to find a villain to defeat with her "super powers"--however there are no villains hiding on her block, just neighbors who need a little help.

Yasmin's family is hosting a big party, but Yasmin is worried that the traditional food her family is cooking is too spicy--so her family challenges Yasmin to come up with a dish of her own.

Yasmin's class is going on a field trip to the zoo, and Yasmin is thrilled when she is chosen to help feed the monkeys; but when she trips and spills their food both she and the monkeys are upset--until she remembers that she has fruit in her lunch bag to share with her new "friends."