16-year-old Allie (Alia) Abraham, with her fair coloring, has always been able to "pass" for an All-American girl, rather than the ethnically Circassian daughter of Muslims from Jordan that she is. Then, a series of small but crucial incidents of religious intolerance and xenophobia awaken her awareness of herself as a Muslim. Her parents do not actively practice their religion; her professor father believes in science more than faith, and her mother was raised as a Catholic but converted when she married "Mo" (Muhammad). Allie finds support and instruction among fellow Muslims of various backgrounds in her Atlanta high school and the larger community, reading the Koran, visiting a mosque, praying at designated times with the accompanying preparations, experimenting with a hijab, learning Arabic, and fasting for Ramadan, all for the first time.

As she explores her identity, she also ...