Here to Stay

by Sara Farizan Narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross

Overview

For most of high school, Bijan Majidi has flown under the radar. He gets good grades, reads comics, hangs out with his best friend, Sean, and secretly crushes on Elle, one of the most popular girls in his school. When he's called off the basketball team's varsity bench and makes the winning basket in a playoff game, everything changes in an instant. But not everyone is happy that Bijan is the man of the hour: an anonymous cyberbully sends the entire school a picture of Bijan photoshopped to look like a terrorist. His mother is horrified, and the school administration is outraged. They promise to find and punish the culprit. All Bijan wants is to pretend it never happened and move on, but the incident isn't so easily erased. Though many of his classmates rally behind Bijan, some don't want him or his type to be a part of their school. And Bijan's finding out it's not always easy to tell your enemies from your friends . . .

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/13/2018
A private New England high school becomes the scene of bigoted bullying in a timely novel by Farizan (If You Could Be Mine). When narrator Bijan Majidi, of Jordanian and Persian descent, scores a winning basket for the varsity basketball team, his popularity rises. It also garners him more friends and brings him closer to his crush, Elle, whom he joins in campaigning to change the school mascot, the Gunner, to something nonviolent. Then someone sends the entire school an anonymous email, captioned “Our New Mascot,” with an image of Bijan Photoshopped to portray him as a terrorist. While Bijan’s single mother and some classmates protest this hate crime, Bijan resists becoming the symbol for “eradicat campus intolerance.” But when a similar attack targets two of his lesbian friends, he realizes the issue goes far beyond himself, eventually leading him to take a courageous public stance. Bijan’s narrative voice includes imaginary live analysis from his two favorite NBA commentators, adding humor to heavy subject matter. A diverse cast of well-developed supporting characters, including several who Bijan thinks might be the cyberbully, add a suspenseful mystery to this top-notch high school drama. Ages 13–17. Agent: Susan Ginsburg, Writers House. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

A Booklist Top 10 Sports Book for Youth, 2018

“A powerful YA novel about identity and prejudice.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“With humor, power, smarts, and honesty, Farizan has written a conversation-starter.”
—The Boston Globe

“Here to Stay tackles serious, timely issues with grace, humor, and urgency—as the best YA novels do.”
—HelloGiggles

“The novel effortlessly tackles several important societal issues, keeping them in the foreground without detracting from the main focus: Bijan's entertaining internal color commentary that reveals his thought processes. The resulting is an engaging page-turner. Powerful.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Islamophobia, racism, homo- and heterosexuality, toxic masculinity, offensive sports mascots, activism, friendship, immigration, school politics, gun rights, and a splash of Iranian history make this about a lot more than high-school sports.”
—Booklist

“Farizan portrays the richness and warmth of the Persian culture of Bijan’s proud mother. A touching subplot explores the romance and high school politics of a budding lesbian relationship. Recommended for all high school collections.”
—School Library Journal

“Here to Stay is refreshingly frank, revealing the unsettling truth that the very social stigmas we pretend we have conquered still exist.”
—The Salisbury Post

School Library Journal

05/01/2019

Gr 9 Up—Bijan, who is Iranian Jordanian and a nonpracticing Muslim, becomes the victim of Islamophobia when classmates circulate an edited photo of him depicted as a terrorist. With the support of his friends, Bijan identifies those classmates and fights hate with peace. A compelling look at what it means to be the target of blind hate.

Kirkus Reviews

2018-06-18
Bijan is a varsity athlete at a Boston-area prep school whose otherwise ordinary life gets disrupted when a cyberbully torments him because of his Iranian-Jordanian heritage.Bijan's status as rising star of the basketball team wins him an accolade in the high school paper, new friendships on the team, and, most importantly, attention from girls. It also produces envy and resentment: He wakes up one day to a schoolwide e-mail depicting him as a terrorist. At the heart of the plot is Bijan's handling of his own emotions: a ferocious motivation to get to the bottom of the story and uncover the mysterious sender, offset by the impossible task of proceeding with his life—and the important upcoming games—as if nothing has happened. The teachers and school leadership are supportive, as is Bijan's diverse circle of friends (including a black teammate who sympathizes with the shared experience of racism) and his unconditionally loving single mom. Yet the damage is done, and Bijan slowly discovers that not everyone is outraged; worse yet, some might even agree with the unknown cyberbully who strikes again, in a homophobic attack. Fed up, Bijan and his friends launch their own investigation. The novel effortlessly tackles several important societal issues, keeping them in the foreground without detracting from the main focus: Bijan's entertaining internal color commentary that reveals his thought processes. The result is an engaging page-turner.Powerful. (Fiction. 12-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170647453
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/18/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos