Showing results by narrator "Farah Rishi" in All Categories

Pakistani American Farah Naz Rishi’s first year of college was perfectly, thankfully, uneventful. After all, she was in college to learn and forge a path of self-sufficiency, especially after her last relationship fell apart—dashing her mother’s aspirations for an early marriage. What could Farah expect, anyway? For the ideal guy to just conveniently waltz into her life? Life isn’t a love story.

Marya's school is creating a community garden for students to take care of, and Marya is super excited. Not only will her third-grade class be the first to work on it, but Marya’s mom will be teaching the students all about gardening. Most importantly, one student will be chosen to lead the charge. Marya REALLY wants to be the class leader . . . but so does Alexa, her worst enemy. Cue Operation Be a Leader! Marya plans to work hard to prove she can be in charge, but nothing she does seems to make a difference.

Marya loves fall. Every year, her family goes to the town’s pumpkin patch and picks out the best pumpkin. But this year, after she sees her frenemy, Alexa, winning a big, cool pumpkin-shaped trophy, Marya knows she’s got to win a trophy for something. It just so happens that her school is going to hold its own fall festival, with games and food and even a hayride. All the ticket sales will go to an animal shelter, and the person who sells the most tickets will win a prize. Cue Operation Sell Tickets! But when Marya is so focused on winning, is she losing sight of what really matters?

Spring break is finally here, and Marya could not be more excited. Because this spring break, she, Hanna, and Alexa are going to Skye Adventure Park—the coolest theme park around! Skye Adventure Park is huge and has so many things to see, so Marya and her friends need to plan how they’ll spend their weekend there. They have to go to the water park (obviously) and avoid boring rides like the Ferris wheel. But the thing that Marya wants to do most of all is the obstacle course.

Ainy is excited for summer! She plans on working at her mom's clothing boutique, having adventures with her best friend, and maybe even starting to wear the hijab--just like her big sister. But when certain boys from Ainy's Muslim community keep showing up at the store to give her unwanted attention, she goes from possibly wanting to wear the hijab someday to feeling like she needs to wear it to get the boys to leave her alone.

Marya’s eighth birthday is coming up in a week, and all she wants is an over-the-top birthday party just like the ones Alexa, her rich neighbor, always throws. When Alexa parades into school with fancy invitations, Marya can't help herself—she claims that she’s having the most epic henna party ever. Now she has to convince her family to make it happen. Enter Operation Help the Khans!