Ayesha Dean: The High School Heist

Ahhh!!!! The Ayesha Dean series has a new MG version coming out for younger readers and I am SO HERE FOR IT!!!!!!

Genre: MG novelette

Ages: 8-12

Available: Amazon/kindle (its free on kindle FEB 10!!!!)

Screening: there is fighting between Ayesha and the bully.

Ayesha is going to a new school (which is allowing uniform changes and special exemption for her hijab and so she is already cognizant of being different) when she realizes someone stole her Indonesian class textbook. She is worried that she is being targeted for her faith, but tries to stay optimistic and figure out who did it (in true Ayesha Dean character). Indonesian class holds a special place in her heart, as her late mother was from there and she wants to connect to her heritage, so it hurts her emotionally. Add onto the problems is that she also has to deal with working on a project with a racist bully! But as usual, Ayesha amazingly figures it out and rises to the challenge, overcoming racism, displaying intelligence and wit, and figuring out the culprit of the school thefts!!

I just loved this MG book! Ayesha def has a middle grade voice to her and I noticed and appreciated the authors care to make this book different than the older books about Ayesha.

The book talks about how the accident claimed her parents lives and how she ended up with her Uncle, who works hard to preserve her deen as her father wished and takes her to the Masjid Sunday School (how awesome is it to see the word Masjid !!)

There was also SO MUCH ISLAM!!! It was so cool to see descriptions of Ayesha doing wudu, and the extra effort of stating she wipes her hijab and socks when out of house, a pretty cool convenient ruling that Muslims are allowed to do in Wudu !!

Prayers are mentioned as done throughout, and Ayesha goes to the library to perform them so she doesn’t miss them when she gets home from school. This stress on performing prayers on time was amazing to see.

I do feel like it could have used a little more development, but I think that for the MG readers, it is a perfect introduction to the Ayesha Dean series!

I loved this book and can’t wait for more MG from this author❤️

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