Making Sense of Our Emotional Turmoil Through Fiction by Nour Zikra

A little over a decade ago, I wouldn’t have been able to write a single word of this blog. I was thirteen years old, awkward, and spoke minimal English, having just immigrated to America with my parents. At school, my English teacher assigned us a summer reading book: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. On my break, I burrowed myself inside this coming of age novel, understanding just a portion of what I read. And yet, the story called out to me. Stargirl, the girl at the heart of the novel (though not as the main character), is a nonconformist; her name, which she chose for herself, is a symbol of her independence and her courage to stand out. She stands by who she is without an apology. It is through this story that I first fell in love with books and writing.

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