OMAR RISING

Aisha Saeed's second middle grade novel, following the beloved Amal Unbound. Like Amal Unbound, this book features a regular kids fighting the status quo.

In this compelling novel Amal's friend Omar is thrilled when he gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school - but not so thrilled when he arrives to find that scholarship kids are treated as second-class citizens and can't play sports or join clubs their first year. Even worse, the school deliberately "weeds out" kids like him by requiring them to get significantly higher grades than kids who can pay tuition, making it nearly impossible to graduate. Good thing in the class he likes best he's learned the importance of being "stubbornly optimistic." So with the help of his tightknit new group of friends--and with the threat of expulsion looming over him--he sets out to what seems impossible -- change a rigged system.

Aisha Saeed is a Pakistani-American writer, teacher, and attorney. She has been featured on MTV, the Huffington Post, NBC and the BBC, and her writings have appeared in publications including the journal ALAN and the Orlando Sentinel. As one of the founding members of the much talked about We Need Diverse Books Campaign, she is helping change the conversation about diverse books. Aisha lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and sons.