How Mohammed Saved Miss Liberty

Children's Bookwatch, April, 2008

How Mohammed Saved Miss Liberty

M.S. Holm

Sentry Books

c/o Great West Publishing

PO Box 31361, Tucson AZ 85751-1631

9780979619908, $14.95 www.sentrybooks.com

Though intended for middle grade and young adult readers, How Mohammed Saved Miss Liberty is an welcome novel for readers of all ages and backgrounds. After the tragedy of the September 11th attacks, life in Ohio's small town changes drastically for fourteen-year-old Mohammed and his family. Their masjid is vandalized; their family business is boycotted; he has to endure taunts and threats at middle school for being a Muslim; and worst of all, his trip to New York City with the Young Engineers Club is cancelled. Mohammed is crushed over the loss of his boyhood dream to see Miss Liberty; even when the Young Engineer's trip is suddenly rescheduled, he learns the statue is closed to the public. Determined to realize his dream of going to see it, he dares to break the rules and visit Liberty Island--not a safe thing to do in the currently hostile political climate! A thoughtful novel that invites the reader to see the world from a different perspective, and a much-needed contribution to children's literature shelves in the wake of hysteria or predispositions to assume the worst about all Muslims in the wake of 9/11.