FATIMA TATE TAKES THE CAKE

Seventeen-year-old Fatima Tate feels in control only while indulging her passion for baking, relinquishing major life decisions to her conservative Black Muslim parents.

Juggling charter school, daily prayers, hanging out with best friend Zaynab, and crushing on fellow soup kitchen volunteer Raheem is all in a day’s work. Though she aspires to become a pastry chef, her working-class parents steer her toward more stable careers. Fate intervenes with an arranged marriage proposal from Raheem and a spot in a teen baking contest. Charmed by Raheem’s romantic gestures, Fatima succumbs to her physical attraction for him. However, when he expresses annoyance at her male baking class partner and advises her to cut ties with Zaynab for dating a girl, Fatima bristles at his controlling nature. Growing secrets strain her friendship with Zaynab while Raheem’s checkered past and a unilateral decision he makes that undermines her pursuit of her dreams make her question their future. The book presents a diverse Muslim community with conservative and progressive values, strong hijabi and nonhijabi Black Muslim women, and complex family dynamics. Aspects of Muslim life are explained, educating those who are unfamiliar with them but possibly feeling heavy-handed to those in the know. While the pacing is uneven, the honest explorations of the pressures of early marriage, relationship struggles, and conceptions of respect and double standards within a tightknit community provide much food for thought.

Looks at underrepresented issues within Muslim communities, making a case for forging one’s own path.