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“In this true story, teenager Adama Bah’s life is turned upside down by unjust laws in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks…In this volume, Guinean immigrant Bah recounts how her life changed after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City. Bah, 13, is at an Islamic boarding school in Buffalo when the attacks occur. She returns home to New York City to celebrate Ramadan wearing full niqab. But her city and her country have changed: She is the focus of hateful treatment, and in 2005 she and her father are detained…The direct access to Bah’s thoughts as she lived through this painful experience helps readers identify with the humanity inside us all and eschew the politics of othering.”

– Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Accused: My Story of Injustice (I, Witness)

Written by Adama Bah
Published by Norton Young Readers

Adama Bah grew up in East Harlem after immigrating from Conakry, Guinea, and was deeply connected to her community and the people who lived there. But as a thirteen-year-old after the events of September 11, 2001, she began experiencing discrimination and dehumanization as prejudice toward Muslim people grew. Then, on March 24, 2005, FBI agents arrested Adama and her father. Falsely accused of being a potential suicide bomber, Adama spent weeks in a detention center being questioned under suspicion of terrorism.

With sharp and engaging writing, Adama recounts the events surrounding her arrest and its impact on her life—the harassment, humiliation, and persecution she faced for crimes she didn’t commit. Accused brings forward a crucial and unparalleled first-person perspective of American culture post-9/11 and the country’s discrimination against Muslim Americans, and heralds the start of a new series of compelling narrative nonfiction by young people, for young people.

Primary ISBN: 9781324016632
Publication Date: October 2021
Available As: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, eBook
Middle Grade, Age 08 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (New York)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Immigrant

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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