In the Name of God

In the Name of God by Paula Jolin was a very powerful book. With all political agendas aside I loved how it had a strong female protagonist that stood up for what she believed in even though everyone around her was telling her it was wrong. I feel that both female and male students can connect with Nadia because she is such a compelling and dynamic character. Even though the experiences she goes through in the book are not necessarily relevant to things students have gone through they may of felt discrimination after 9/11, felt powerless in the system we have today and believed in a cause whole-heartedly. I think that this book would be kind of touchy to teach because of the current world issues still going on post 9/11 but this is such a relevant part of history that students are actually living so I think it is important that they see the issue from all perspectives. The only thing that I didn’t like about this book from a teaching standpoint was the low level of literacy. The way of writing was very simple and did not have a lot of depth in a literary sense. Other than that I feel like this book will help break down the preconceived conventions students have toward the Islamic religion. I think that this book has great character growth because Nadia changes so much throughout the book. Even at the beginning she has a hard time seeing things from other peoples points of view and comes off as judgmental which I feel is how some people can approach the subject about 9/11, Islamic religion and terrorism. This is book would be great to teach because it holds something different in that is not a typical classic or a book that students would typically pick up to read.