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Here to Stay

A junior at an elite private high school, Bijan Majidi finds himself thrown into the midst of controversy when a photograph showing his head Photoshopped onto a rifle-toting jihadist is distributed via anonymous email to the entire school community. Bijan suspects the photo was sent by one of his basketball teammates, Drew, who is jealous that Bijan is an outstanding varsity player. Bijan wonders if he was also targeted because he recently joined a group of student activists petitioning to change the school mascot—the Gunners—to something less violent, although he was motivated less by a desire for change than by his crush on Elle, one of the student organizers. He also joined to support his friend Stephanie, who is single-minded in her devotion to a cause and largely resented by the student body. Iranian-Jordianian American Bijan’s well-drawn character, believable experiences, and raw emotional responses as he navigates the Islamophobia directed at him and works to support others experiencing homophobia and other forms of harassment solidly ground this novel. ©2019 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 13 and older
Age Range: Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13) Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Activism and Resistance Anger Iranians and Iranian Americans Islamophobia Jordanians and Jordanian Americans Sports
Diversity subjects: Arab Asian Middle East Muslim LGBTQ Character/Topic

Publisher: Algonquin
Publish Year: 2018
Pages: 265
ISBN: 9781616207007

CCBC Location: Fiction, Farizan

Here to Stay