We Are Big Time

Starred review from May 13, 2024
Kahn (Drawing Deena) and Zerrougui team up to deliver a distinguished attestation to the power of sport. Upon moving from Tampa to Milwaukee, Pakistani and Indian American high school freshman Aliya Javaid enrolls in Peace Academy, an Islamic school, and joins the basketball team, hoping to make friends while playing a game she loves. Initial losses spur intensive training before the team begins to triumph. Local media soon take notice, but reporters’ interests lie less in the team’s performance and more in their hijab uniforms. The girls endeavor to take control of the narrative: “If they ask random things, bring it back to basketball. This is a basketball story.” Kahn provides contextualizing information for non-Muslims via the girls’ interactions with Puerto Rican coach Jess, as Jess in turn educates opposing coaches about the team’s uniforms, and prioritizes religious practices, allowing a break during practice for Maghrib; vividly saturated artwork invites readers into the evening prayer in a wordless spread that transitions to diagonal panels indicating movement and connection in the following gametime action. It’s an uplifting graphic novel that celebrates female Muslim athletes and highlights how the teens’ faith, sport, and relationships intersect. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Matthew Elblonk, DiFiore & Co. Illustrator’s agent: Paloma Hernando, Einstein Literary Management.

Starred review from July 1, 2024
Grades 4-8 *Starred Review* When Aliya and her family move from Florida to Wisconsin, she finds comfort in the basketball program at her new school, Peace Academy. But in order for her team to win, she'll have to rise to the challenge and prove that she has what it takes to lead as co-captain, even if she still has a lot to learn. Inspired by the Salam School basketball team that made headlines in 2018, Khan tells a heightened yet realistic sports story of teamwork and identity; adding local color like Aliya's love of the Milwaukee Art Museum adds even more authenticity. But Khan also tells the story about the story--how rival coaches and reporters were uncomfortable and uninformed about Muslim culture--so the book not only showcases the team's achievements but the everyday struggles of girls like Aliya and her teammates, from missing faraway friends to dealing with racist microaggressions and the pressure of press scrutiny. The lightness of Zerrougui's color palette makes the tone overall pleasant, and her work certainly shines in the many basketball scenes, nicely capturing the fluidity of the game. A lighthearted slam dunk.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2024
Like Tavares's Hoops (rev. 3/23), this inspiring graphic novel is based on a real-life girls' basketball team -- here, on the all-Muslim, all-hijab-wearing Salam School's 2018-2019 varsity team. Ninth grader Aliya has just moved from Tampa to Milwaukee and is finding the transition to a new city, climate, and much-larger school challenging. She joins Peace Academy's basketball team despite its reputation as being "pretty bad." With nuance, humor, and depth, Khan conveys Aliya's experiences as the team at first falters and then begins to win under the leadership of new coach Jessica Martinez. Coach Jess teaches the girls skills and teamwork, and the girls educate their (very respectful) coach about Islamic culture. It's not all rosy for Aliya: her co-captain is initially reluctant to share the spotlight; her grades suffer; and she focuses too much on her mistakes. At tournament time, the team is unfairly seeded last and must play the top team, but despite losing that game, they celebrate how far they've come. The team's story has attracted much media coverage, and the book ends with a proud Coach Jess stating on a Bleacher Report-like TV segment that the girls "shifted the conversation and what people think an all-Muslim team can be." Zerrougui's visual storytelling is highly readable and makes excellent use of varied panel sizes and placements to convey character, setting, and b-ball action alike. Martha V. Parravano

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
Like Tavares's Hoops (rev. 3/23), this inspiring graphic novel is based on a real-life girls' basketball team -- here, on the all-Muslim, all-hijab-wearing Salam School's 2018 2019 varsity team. Ninth grader Aliya has just moved from Tampa to Milwaukee and is finding the transition to a new city, climate, and much-larger school challenging. She joins Peace Academy's basketball team despite its reputation as being "pretty bad." With nuance, humor, and depth, Khan conveys Aliya's experiences as the team at first falters and then begins to win under the leadership of new coach Jessica Martinez. Coach Jess teaches the girls skills and teamwork, and the girls educate their (very respectful) coach about Islamic culture. It's not all rosy for Aliya: her co-captain is initially reluctant to share the spotlight; her grades suffer; and she focuses too much on her mistakes. At tournament time, the team is unfairly seeded last and must play the top team, but despite losing that game, they celebrate how far they've come. The team's story has attracted much media coverage, and the book ends with a proud Coach Jess stating on a Bleacher Report-like TV segment that the girls "shifted the conversation and what people think an all-Muslim team can be." Zerrougui's visual storytelling is highly readable and makes excellent use of varied panel sizes and placements to convey character, setting, and b-ball action alike.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)