It Ain't So Awful, Falafel

Firoozeh Dumas

May 2016 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh is the new kid on the block...for the fourth time.

California’s Newport Beach is her family’s latest perch, and she’s determined to shuck her brainy loner persona and start afresh with a new Brady Bunch name—Cindy.

It’s the late 1970s, and fitting in becomes more difficult as Iran makes U.S. headlines with protests, revolution, and finally the taking of American hostages. Even puka shell necklaces, pool parties, and flying fish can't distract Cindy from the anti-Iran sentiments that creep way too close to home.

A poignant yet lighthearted middle grade debut from the author of the bestselling Funny in Farsi.

• California Library Association’s John and Patricia Beatty Award Winner
• Florida Sunshine State Young Readers Award (Grades 6–8)
• New York Historical Society’s New Americans Book Prize Winner
• Middle East Book Award for Youth Literature, Honorable Mention
• Booklist 50 Best Middle Grade Novels of the 21st Century

Ratings and reviews

My nine-year-old daughter and I just finished this book. I am so grateful to the author. I have tears it was such a powerful story. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We loved it!

I am reading this book with my Knitting/Reading Club, and we love it! I read to my students, all Mexican/ American, as they knit, and we connect to the immigrant experience. Students read a chapter on their own at home, and we have woven great friendships, beautiful hats and reading scores continue to raise.

Well its AWESOME like ots kimda like she is right there telling you her story

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Firoozeh Dumas was born in Abadan, Iran, and moved to Whittier, California at the age of seven. After a two-year stay, she and her family moved back to Iran and lived in Ahvaz and Tehran. Two years later, they moved back to Whittier, then to Newport Beach. She lives in Munich, Germany, with her husband and three children.