I was still so easily, pathetically, punctured.”

She thinks she is weak though because she does get hurt: “I still cared too much. She also works out her frustrations physically by practicing break-dancing after school with her brother and some of his friends. Mostly she tries to tune it all out (literally) by listening to music all day through headphones that are invisible because of her hijab. Since the attack on 9/11, however, it has gotten much worse.

Shirin has a virtual spike-covered wall around her to protect her from the slings and arrows of degrading, ill-informed, and cruel insults from fellow high schoolers and even high school teachers. Navid has an easier time adjusting than Shirin he is a good-looking male who can protect himself, and perhaps most importantly, he doesn’t wear a head scarf, as does Shirin. Shirin and her older brother Navid have moved a lot, because her parents are always trying to improve their lives. I was no longer free to be only a teenager, only a human, only flesh and blood-no, I had to be more than that” (159).This short young adult novel about Shirin, a 16-year-old Muslim girl in 2002, born in America to Iranian parents, has won numerous awards, including a nomination for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2018. Although she wants deeply to have friends, the potential for pain and consequent fear make it too arduous a process having seen and experienced others’ racism and bigotry, she feels they perceive her as different: “I’d become a talking point a statistic. She acquires a label of “mean” because of her lack of interactions and open unfriendliness with classmates. These events caused Shirin to develop fearfulness with interpersonal situations in general (such as when strangers on the street, including adults, yell insults at her) and with peer relationships specifically, causing Shirin to construct figurative emotional barriers between herself and other students. After September 11, strangers and acquaintances showed distrust and intolerance toward Shirin because of her religion and appearance soon after the terrorist attacks, two male students attack Shirin. Inside, Shirin recalls lost friendships from her family’s moves when she was younger, which causes enough pain to convince her that friends are not worth pursuing. Her fear manifests itself in outward-facing personality traits like toughness, vulgarity, rudeness, and emotional passivity. Shirin’s difficulty with fellow students represents a consistent and deep fear of peer relationships.

A very large expanse of sea