Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali

Zayneb Malik, 18, is a Muslim American high school senior living in Indiana. She is part Pakistani, part Guyanese and Trinidadian, wears a hijab and has a teacher, Mr. Fencer, who delights in spinning his lessons to fit his Islamophobia.

Adam Chen, 18, is a Muslim convert from Doha, Qatar, born in Canada, he's part Chinese and part Finish. He's also university student in London. I should say, was a university student. He hasn't been attending classes for months now, instead staying in his dorm and making things, including a display box for his younger sister Hanna's rock collection.

The thing that these two strangers have in common, besides being devout Muslims, is that they both keep a Marvels and Oddities journal for recording the marvels and oddities in their lives.

Now, Zayneb is on her way to Doha for two weeks after being suspended from school for writing a "threatening note" about Mr. Fencer. And Adam is on his way home to Doha to explain to his father why he hasn't been attending classes. Naturally, they run into each other at the London airport and on the plane, but it's Adam who notices the name of Zayneb's journal. Still, all his plans to try to talk to her on the plane are to no avail.

So imagine Adam's surprise when he sees his fourth grade teacher (and his deceased mother's best friend) Ms. Raymond at the airport and discovers that she is Zayneb's Auntie Nandy. It's a small world, and Zayneb and Adam have one more thing in common, they are both keeping secrets - she hasn't told Auntie Nandy why she is in Doha, Adam hasn't told his family about his multiple sclerosis diagnosis, the same disease that his mother died from when he was a boy.

Attracted to each other from that first meeting in the London airport, their relationship is on a rocky road, but it is also a road filled with marvels and oddities.

In Saints and Misfits, S.K. Ali gave readers a look into the life of a young hijab-wearing Muslim woman, whose religion is very important to her, but who finds herself in a difficult position caused by one of the rising stars of her mosque. I had never read a book before Saints and Misfits that was so focused on the different aspects of being Muslim - not just within the family and mosque, but what life is like in the world at large. Needless to say, I learned a lot, and it is a great book to boot.

So I was really looking forward to reading S.K. Ali's second novel, Love from A to Z, and I was not disappointed. Readers get to know the two main characters through written alternating journal entries as they record the marvels and oddities they experience. And once again, Ali has given readers a strong, independently thinking Muslim character in Zayneb, but she's also a nicely flawed character, having some justifiable anger issues towards Islamophobes but needing to find a more productive way to deal with them. And Ali gives us some really disturbing examples of what a Muslim female who wears a hijab like Zayneb faces on a regular basis.

Adam has his own anger issues, but while the fact that he spends his time building things seems productive, it is also a way of not dealing with his illness. Adam is also a kind, gentle, religious man, and wonderful to his little sister. He isn't exposed to the kind of vitriolic attacks that Zayneb faces, only because his being Muslim isn't as obvious. Both Zayneb and Adam have loving, supportive, understanding families, which is a welcome change from the usual angsty families in YA, though Zayneb's mother would like her to be a little more low profile.

I particularly like that Ali takes her characters (and her readers) to Doha, a place where being Muslim isn't unusual but then shows readers that it, too, is not without prejudice. For example, when Zayneb goes swimming in the pool where her aunt lives wearing a burkini, she is forced out when a resident objects.

And once again, Ali has written a YA novel, a real love story, that has sent me to Google a number of times, not the least of which was to find the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and the manuscript called The Wonders of Creation and the Oddities of Existence that had inspired their journals and which Adam takes Zayneb to see. It's there and if you ever visit Doha, you can see it, too.

Reading Love from A to Z is a true learning experience wrapped up in a eminently readable, richly textured love story and I can't recommend this book highly enough.

This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley