Accused by Yasmin Shiraz

Author, Yasmin Shiraz

Yasmin Shiraz has written another winner!  I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of Accused and my students and I can't put it down.  I had read the prequel, Retaliation several years ago.  At that time I was a citywide coordinator for the Mayor Daley's Book Club for Middle School.   After reading Retaliation and observing the similarities between D.C. and Chicago teens, I knew that the students  would enjoy reading the book.  I was right.  Coordinators from across the city emailed commenting how much their clubs enjoyed the story.

I was really excited to hear from Shiraz and learn that she has cleverly continued the story of Ahmed and Tashera in Accused.   I don't want to give away key elements of the story so I have copied the synopsis from Shiraz's website for you to review.  This book is a recommended read for late middle school students through high school.  Stay tuned for an interview of Yasmin Shiraz in an upcoming blog post.

Synopsis:

An easier and more peaceful life seemed to be destined for Ahmed and Tashera when they left Washington, DC and entered Georgia Atlantic University.  But when Ahmed is accused of a crime that he didn’t commit and begins to be tried in the media, his popularity plummets, his self-esteem suffers, and his dreams of playing college basketball disappear.

Meanwhile, there is a serial rapist on campus who has been attacking freshman girls at record numbers and forcing them to keep silent. As Tashera learns about the girls, she begins to close in on the rapist. But is the attacker too crafty to be caught? Will the state prosecutor ignore key evidence to instead focus on the fame that comes with convicting a high profile basketball star?

Tashera is beyond stressed as she divides her time between trying to find enough evidence to clear Ahmed while at the same time stopping the rapist who roams the campus of Georgia Atlantic.  Ahmed and Tashera’s journey into a new life away from home is more challenging than they ever thought that it would be.