Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win

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“A coming-of-age novel that is smart, funny, and completely satisfying.Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Winperfectly captures the tension and anxieties of trying to fit-in. Matt Mendez

Its 1979, and Jasmine Zumideh is ready to get the heck out of her stale, Southern California suburb and into her dream school, NYU, where shell major in journalism and cover New York Citys exploding music scene.

Theres just one teeny problem: Due to a deadline snafu, she maaaaaaybe said she was Senior Class President-Elect on her application?before the election takes place. But honestly, shes running against Gerald Thomas, a rigid rule-follower whose platform includes reinstating a dress code?theres no way she can lose. And she better not, or shell never get into NYU.

But then, a real-life international incident turns the election upside down. Iran suddenly dominates the nightly news, and her opponent seizes the opportunity to stir up anti-Iranian hysteria at school and turn the electorate against her. Her brother, Ali, is no help. Hes become an outspoken advocate for Iran just as shes trying to downplay her heritage.

Now, as the white lie she told snowballs into an avalanche, Jasmine is stuck between claiming her heritage or hiding it, standing by her outspoken brother or turning her back on him, winning the election or abandoning her dreams for good.

Told with biting insight and fierce humor, Susan Azim Boyer’sJasmine Zumideh Needs a Winis a fresh, unforgettable story of one Iranian-American young womans experience navigating her identity, friendship, family, her future, and a budding romance, all set against life-changing historical events with present-day relevance.