The sequel to Saints and Misfits, Misfit in Love, was a People magazine best book of summer 2021. It was also the first teen novel chosen for NBC Today Show's Read with Jenna Book Club.

Her widely acclaimed second novel, LOVE FROM A TO Z, a story about finding love in the time of Islamophobia, was an Entertainment Weekly Top Ten Young Adult Book of 2019 and a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. Her debut novel, Saints and Misfits was the winner of the 2018 APALA Honor award, the 2017 Middle East Book Honor Award, and a 2018 William C. Ali is the NYT bestselling and award-winning author of several books. Ali writes the Muslim characters in stories she never saw growing up. Ages 14 up.About-the-author, bare bones: S. It's a sympathetic and thoughtful study of a girl's attempt to find her place in a complicated world. Everything is perceived and digested through Janna's lens as she questions a world that she finds is mostly gray areas: a photo project serves as an ironic twist for a girl pretending she wasn't assaulted, a woman she thinks is a saint turns out to be a typically flawed human, and her relationship with an elderly Indian man exposes her own shortcomings. Instead, debut novelist Ali taps into universal thoughts and situations, including the feelings of not fitting in, oppressive social stigmas, and the difficulty of truly connecting with and trusting others. This push and pull gives readers unfamiliar with Islam a deep understanding of Muslim practices and women who wear the hijab without limiting the scope of the story. Sophomore Janna Yusuf is caught between her Muslim faith and the parts of her life that clash with it: her nonpracticing father her crush Jeremy, who isn't Muslim and the pious boy from her mosque who attempts to sexually assault her during a party. People think he’s holy, untouchable, but nobody has seen under the mask. Well, monsters wearing saint masks, like in Flannery O’Connor’s stories.

Same planet, different worlds.īut sometimes worlds collide and beautiful things happen, right?ģ. Because although, alliteratively speaking, Janna and Jeremy sound good together, we don’t go together. Like me-the way I don’t fit into Dad’s brand-new family or in the leftover one composed of Mom and my older brother, Mama’s-Boy-Muhammad.Īlso, there’s Jeremy and me. They’re in your face so much, you can’t see them, like how you can’t see your nose.Ģ.

Saints, those special people moving the world forward. There are three kinds of people in my world:ġ. Morris Award finalist and an Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of the Year-is a “timely and authentic” ( School Library Journal, starred review) debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.

Saints and misfits book