Borderline by Allan Stratton

Life's not easy for Sami Sabiri since his dad stuck him in a private school where he is the only Muslim kid. But it's about to get a lot worse. When Sami catches his father in a lie, he gets suspicious...He's not the only one. In a whirlwind, the FBI descends on his home, and Sami's family becomes the center of an international terrorist investigation. Now Sami must fight to keep his world from unraveling. An explosive thriller ripped from today's headlines, Borderline is the story of a funny, gutsy Muslim-American teen determined to save his father, his family and his life.

Discussion questions:

• For such a smart boy, Sami seemed to make some pretty poor decisions that could have impacted how things turned out. If you were Sami's friend, what do you think you might have said when he proposed the trip to Toronto? Did he just get lucky?

• This book started out as a story about race relations , bulling, life in North America post 9/11. What other themes in this book struck you as being relevant?

Welcome to the blog

Hi everyone!
I am so glad that you could join us for this year's White Pine Reads. Some of you are returning readers, and some are new to the group, but regardless of which group you fit in, I hope that you enjoy the selection this year and can be ready to vote for your favourite this coming April. I will be posting discussion questions on each of the ten books that we will be reading over the course of the next few months, starting alphabetically with "Bordeline" by Allan Stratton and ending up with "The Worst Thing She Ever Did" by Alice Kuipers.

I would also like to pass a few tips along that may assist you in keeping track of the books you are reading. As I am posting questions about each book on this blog a week or so apart, you may want to keep track of the story line of each book as you are reading it. Scribble down some things you liked about the book, things you didn't like or things that you may wish to express your opinion on about the book you are reading.

Also, please remember, if you are reading one of these White Pine books, we only have 2 copies of each book for everyone to share. Please remember to return each book promptly so that everyone has the chance to read as many of the titles as they choose to.

If you are interested, please check out the Goodreads site. All of this year's books are listed there and you can rate these books. This site is also great for checking out what other people are reading and you can create your very own bookshelf of titles that you have read in the past or would like to read in the future.

I hope that you enjoy reading this year's selections and I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and comments as you work your way through these titles for 2011.

Yours in reading,

Mrs. Saunders