Accused: My Story of Injustice (I, Witness)

Gr 7 Up--In this first installment of a series that successfully highlights complicated issues through a real person's story, Adama Bah narrates her experiences of being wrongly accused of terrorism after the September 11, 2001, attack. As a Muslim teenager living in the United States, she believed she was an American citizen. But in 2005, when the FBI came to her apartment and threatened to send her and her father back to Guinea, she found out her immigration papers were not in order. Bah was detained for over six weeks in a juvenile detention center and her father was deported to his homeland. She was also wrongly accused of being a suicide bomber. She had to wear an ankle bracelet when she was released from detention In 2010, when she was taken off of the No Fly List, she felt vindicated of her false allegations. Today Adama lives in New York with her husband and family and is working on a nonprofit to help others. The author uses direct, engaging writing to illustrate American culture after 9/11 and the discrimination against Muslim Americans. VERDICT A good addition to a middle school library collections.--Nancy Hawkins, Franklin County H.S., Brookville, IN