Free radicals

Afghan-American Mafi's sophomore year gets a whole lot more complicated when she accidentally exposes family secrets, putting her family back in Afghanistan in danger in this smartly written YA debut. Sixteen-year-old Mafi Shahin knows life is not always fair. If it were she'd have just as much free...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Riesen, Lila (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Nancy Paulsen Books, [2023]
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Summary:Afghan-American Mafi's sophomore year gets a whole lot more complicated when she accidentally exposes family secrets, putting her family back in Afghanistan in danger in this smartly written YA debut. Sixteen-year-old Mafi Shahin knows life is not always fair. If it were she'd have just as much freedom as her older brother Rafi and her crush-basketball star Jalen Thomas-would see her as more than Rafi's kid sister. And if life were fair, Mafi's family in Afghanistan wouldn't have to flee their homes to be safe. Life may not be fair, but as the Ghost, her high school's secret avenger, Mafi vows to make it a bit more even, meting out karmic justice on behalf of classmates who've been wronged. They simply leave a revenge note detailing the transgression in the knot of the SOL tree, and Mafi takes care of the rest. But there are rules to being the Ghost: Don't get caught. Never reveal your identity. Never involve the police, and definitely don't get emotionally involved. But starting sophomore year, everything changes when instead of a revenge note, a wish turns up in the tree and Mafi breaks all her rules, putting her heart and even her family in Afghanistan at risk. Now Mafi will have to decide who she wants to be-the Ghost, making the world a just place from the shadows or something real, standing up for what's right in the daylight.
Physical Description:389 pages ; 22 cm
Audience:Ages 12+.
Grades 7-9.
ISBN:9780593407714
0593407717
Author Notes:The daughter of Afghan and Australian immigrants, Lila Riesen was raised in the United States. Her undergraduate studies in English were completed at Indiana University and the Australian National University. In 2017, Lila graduated with a master's degree in English literature and linguistics from the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Free Radicals is her first novel, inspired by her cashew-coveting baba and all the Afghans fighting for peace, in the US and abroad.