by Firoozeh Dumas, 370 pages, Grades 6 and up.
Zoomrad (which means emerald in Persian) decides to use her chosen name, Cindy, at school to avoid confusion. The name change does help the American kids with pronunciation, but it turns out the name change alone does not make Cindy feel like she completely fits in in her new California town in the 1970s. First of all people in California in the 70s don’t even know where Iran is. And then, Americans who are living in Iran are taken hostage. After this, the lack of understanding becomes prejudice directed at Zoomrad’s family from a community they are trying to become a part of. In addition to this, Cindy’s dad’s company, an American oil company located in Iran and the U.S., closes down because of the hostage crisis, but she can’t talk about this family stress with anyone because it feels too private, and like it might be one more reason for the community to disapprove of her family. Fitting in in a new location is always hard, but Zoomrad has a lot of obstacles to overcome; it really only takes one person to reach out and bring someone into the circle. Will someone do that for her?
If you enjoy books about moving to a new neighborhood or school, you might also like: My Name is Not Easy, by Debbie Dahl Edwardson, Waiting for Normal, by Leslie Connor, or Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech.
