“The next best Young Adult novel. Educational without being preachy, light without being flimsy. … Not only realistic, it’s grounded in current events.”
– Leora Tanenbaum, Huffington Post
Rebels by Accident
What she wanted was a vacation. What she got was a revolution.
After attending her first high school party lands her in jail, Mariam thinks things can’t possibly get worse. So when her parents send her to live with her grandmother in Cairo, she is sure her life is over. Her Sittu is Darth Vader’s evil sister, and Mariam is convinced that the only sights she’ll get to see in Egypt are the rooms in her grandmother’s apartment.
Then a girl named Asmaa calls the people of Egypt to protest against their president, and Mariam finds herself in the middle of a revolution, running from teargas and falling in love for the first time, and having her first kiss.
The reviews are in…
“[Patricia] Dunn debuts with a powerful coming-of-age story, set on the brink of Egypt’s January 25 Revolution in 2011. Dunn allows Mariam’s voice its space—making it tentative, passionate, doubting, and utterly believable—while creating a cast of Cairo youth, rebels, and expatriates that upend Mariam’s preconceptions and will do the same for many readers.”
— Publishers Weekly
“In her debut novel, [Patricia] Dunn tells an ambitious and winning coming-of-age story about an American teenager born to Egyptian parents. Being a teenager probably wasn’t a cakewalk for any of us, but when you’re a first generation Egyptian-American living in post-9/11 New York, no one can blame you for having a bit of an identity crisis. The author shines at writing teenagers–no part of how they talk or think feels unfaithful to that delicate stage in life. An excellent young-adult novel that is an important and enjoyable read for both teenage girls and any adult wanting to understand more about the present-day life of Egyptian Americans.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“A sweet coming-of-age tale that sheds light on the plight of anyone who feels like an outsider.”
— School Library Journal
“Educational without being preachy, light without being flimsy. … Not only realistic, it’s grounded in current events.”
– Leora Tanenbaum, The Huffington Post
“Dunn truly captures what it is to be a teenager; she captures what it is to be a teenager in our modern world. Dunn does a marvelous job with providing a literary outlet for coping with the changing world. ”
– Prabh Kehal, Caliber Magazine, UC Berkeley’s award-winning entertainment and lifestyle magazine.
“Understanding the teenage voice.”
– Adriana Rambay Fernandez, Hudson Reporter, Hoboken, NJ
“There are not enough words to describe this book, but I guess I will try…How about awesome? Fabulous? Mind-blowing? Can you tell I really liked this book?”
– Once Upon a Twilight, YA Book Blog
“This book may read like a fun, across the world trip for two friends but it brings up many social questions. Religion, bullying and human rights are all spoken with wisdom from sittu. This is truly a fiction book in the teen literature that I have never read before. I’m inspired by it. I hope you will be too.”
– How Writers are Living a Life of Writing, Book Blog