Show Notes

LikA Very Large Expanse of Sea

Tahera Mafi’s A Very Large Expanse of Sea is a beautiful book, perfect for springboarding into meaningful conversations about empathy, choice, and discrimination with your teens.

The Context

Fear and mistrust might be knee-jerk reactions, but how we act and think afterward is our choice.

Likewise, choosing to understand racism as a system we’re born into rather than an attitude held by a “bad person” (re: someone who wants to harm others because of their race) opens us to recognizing problematic racial patterns in ourselves.

It’s important to me to model for and instill in my teens a compassion and an empathy for others, regardless of any perceived differences. Reading is an excellent way to gain compassion and empathy because you’re walking someone else’s story.

This is important, because a lack of empathy, coupled with fear, can lead to discrimination. The kind that many Muslims in the United States experienced post 9/11. The harassment and persecution (see the articles below) followed in the weeks and months after the attack because of the rampant fear and distrust.

The Book

A Very Large Expanse of Sea puts us into the mind of a 16-year-old Muslim girl, a year after the 9/11 attacks.

Shirin is miserable, isolated, and bitter because of her post 9/11 experiences. Two boys assaulted her in the days following the terrorist attack – and the police released them without repercussion. She is bullied on a daily basis and there is no one she is close to who can relate. As a result, she withdraws into a prickly shell, using her hijab and her headphones to block out the world around her.

As she navigates her first love, Shirin slowly starts to open up and make friends. She discovers that in closing herself off, she became the very thing she most despises.

You can find discussion questions for A Very Large Expanse of Sea here.

The Issues in A Very Large Expanse of Sea

• Academic Pressure
• Body Choice
• Bullying
• Friendship
• Discrimination/Stereotyping
• Dating Relationships
• Parent/Teen Relationships
• Sibling Relationships
• Teacher/Student Relationships
• Trauma