Here to Stay

“A powerful YA novel about identity and prejudice.” —Entertainment Weekly

Bijan Majidi is:

• Shy around girls
• Really into comics
• Decent at basketball

Bijan Majidi is not:

• A terrorist

What happens when a kid who’s flown under the radar for most of high school gets pulled off the bench to make the winning basket in a varsity playoff game?

If his name is Bijan Majidi, life is suddenly high fives in the hallways and invitations to exclusive parties—along with an anonymous photo sent by a school cyberbully that makes Bijan look like a terrorist. 

The administration says they’ll find and punish the culprit. Bijan wants to pretend it never happened. He’s not ashamed of his Middle Eastern heritage; he just doesn’t want to be a poster child for Islamophobia. Lots of classmates rally around Bijan. Others make it clear they don’t want him or anybody who looks like him at their school. But it’s not always easy to tell your enemies from your friends.

Here to Stay is a painfully honest, funny, authentic story about growing up, speaking out, and fighting prejudice.

• A Booklist Top 10 Sports Book for Youth, 2018

  “A powerful YA novel about identity and prejudice.”
  —Entertainment Weekly

  “With humor, power, smarts, and honesty, Farizan has written a conversation-starter.”
  —The Boston Globe

  “Here to Stay tackles serious, timely issues with grace, humor, and urgency—as the best YA novels do.”
  /I>HelloGiggles

  “The novel effortlessly tackles several important societal issues, keeping them in the foreground without detracting from the main focus: Bijan's entertaining internal color commentary that reveals his thought processes. The resulting is an engaging page-turner. Powerful.”
  I>Kirkus Reviews

  “Islamophobia, racism, homo- and heterosexuality, toxic masculinity, offensive sports mascots, activism, friendship, immigration, school politics, gun rights, and a splash of Iranian history make this about a lot more than high-school sports.”
  I>Booklist

  “Farizan portrays the richness and warmth of the Persian culture of Bijan’s proud mother. A touching subplot explores the romance and high school politics of a budding lesbian relationship. Recommended for all high school collections.”
  —School Library Journal

  “Here to Stay is refreshingly frank, revealing the unsettling truth that the very social stigmas we pretend we have conquered still exist.”

  The Salisbury Post