In Shine, Coconut Moon by
Neesha Meminger, 17-year-old Samar (known as Sam to her friends) knows
very little of her Indian culture or Sikh religion. Her single mother
has raised her to fit in as an American teen; her mother has also kept
her from getting to know her uncle and “old-fashioned” grandparents.
That was all before 9/11.
Shortly after that, a stranger arrives at her front door in a
turban, startling Sam at first glance. It turns out he is her Uncle
Sandeep, and he is eager to reconnect with Samar and her mother. When
Uncle Sandeep drives Sam home from school and their car is pelted with
bottles by Sam’s classmates who chant “go back home Osama,” her
worldview begins to shift. Then Sam is at her best friend Molly’s house
with Molly’s large, extended family, and Uncle Sandeep comes to pick
her up. When he enters the house, Sam is acutely aware of the stares,
of assumptions made about her uncle in his brown skin and turban.
Feeling adrift, Sam decides to learn about Sikhism, about her
heritage, and spends time with her uncle and grandparents in spite of
the differences between them and her mother. As she explores and
questions her identity, she no longer wants to be a coconut — brown on the outside, white on the inside.
In Love is the Higher Law by
David Levithan, Claire, Jasper and Peter each narrate their stories in
alternating chapters. On Tuesday, 9/11/2001, they don’t yet really know
each other. Claire, a high school junior, is in class when she first
hears about the planes slamming into the towers. Her first thought is
to go get her younger brother Sammy and go home. Jasper, a college
Sophomore, sleeps late on that fateful Tuesday until the phone won’t
stop ringing. His mother in Korea has been frantically trying to reach
him. Peter is at Tower Records waiting to buy Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft.
Then he sees the gaping whole in the World Trade Center tower.
Peter recently met Jasper at a party and they had arranged a date for
the evening of 9/11/01. Claire knows of Peter from school. But after
that day, their lives intersect in surprising ways – new friendships,
love, redemption, and a deeper awareness of what really matters.(Christie, The Loft)