This book is considered teen fiction. The main character, Bijan Majidi, is in High School. He is a typical teen. He has a best friend, Sean; likes a girl, Elle, who he is afraid to talk to; is on the JV basketball team. One event changes his life drastically. During a Varsity basketball game, he is brought up from JV to play in the last minutes of the Varsity game. He makes the game-winning basket. Things snowball from there.
Some of the other "star" players are apparently threatened by Bijan because they start making his life difficult. Someone sends out an email of a picture of Bijan dressed as a terrorist because his heritage is Middle Eastern. At the same time, he joins the petition to change the school mascot, simply because Elle is involved in this community project. He figures it's a good way to get to know her. The school mascot is "Gunner", who is displayed with a rifle. This is a pretty violent representation for a mascot for any organization, much less a school. So Bijan is quickly associated with the "No Tradition of Violence" side of this issue. Many on the basketball team are opponents to this idea and wear shirts that say, "Here to Stay", not wanting to change "tradition" and the current mascot.
In addition to being cyber-bullied, Bijan is physically bullied as well, on and off the basketball court. His mother, who is a doctor, steps into the mix as well, trying to force the school principal to do something. (Bijan's dad died years previously.)
Bijan, his friends and teammates try to work through some pretty tough issues between the bullying, racism, socioeconomic differences between students, heartbreak, homosexuality, violence, drinking and other teenage feelings and experiences. Bijan learns to stand up to his bullies and even steps out of his comfort zone to publicly address how being called a terrorist, simply because of his heritage, made him feel.
Wendy's Rating: ****
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