1. The main character is Sami who is very consciences of what he does and what goes on around him. He is also extremely vulnerable to being pushed around and bullied. Sami can also be very daring when there is a lot at risk, like when he rescued his father from being convicted of terrorism.
2. In the beginning Sami is getting in trouble and being bullied a lot. Eddie and his friends bully him constantly and get him in trouble for fighting with the vice principle while Mr. Bernstein tries to help him. He also goes to an island with his friends, without adults, and they get in trouble for trespassing which causes cops to show up and tell the parents about the incident. Sami also started thinking his dad was having another affair other than with his mom and tries to find out if it's true. In the middle the FBI broke into the house, captured Sami's dad, questioned Sami, and tore the house apart. There were news reporters outside the house for a long time and when they were gone Sami went back to school where he was expelled and Mr. Bernstein was fired after a video was found by someone of Mr. Bernstein comforting Sami after he had his head dunked in a dirty toilet by Eddie and his friends trying to make him admit that his father was a terrorist. In the end Sami went to public school with his friends and convinces them to take him to Toronto to find Tariq. He found Tariq and found out that Tariq only wanted family information. One of his friends set him up with videos. Sami's dad was found innocent and the others got little jail time for little things when they turned themselves in.
3. Because of the changes Sami experiences throughout the story I think the author is trying to say that life is full of twists and turns which means you must be firm and know who to trust. One example of firmness is demonstrated at the end of the story when Sami stands up to Eddie and ticks him off. One example of trust is when he trusts his father's word against the media’s.
4. Sami was affected by three major issues: bullying, profiling, and government security. Bullying effects Sami when Eddie acted very racist against him, like when Eddie called him sand monkey. Profiling also affected him when when Eddie racially bullied him and thought just because his dad was shown on the news and that he was Muslim that he was a terrorist. Eddie also harassed that Sami was a bad person too. Government security also effected Sami because it's so uptight and they took Sami's dad. The taking of Sami's dad caused all of the information about Tariq and his earlier life. It also caused Sami to prove his dad's incense. Because of this the family was happy again.
5. Bullying seems real and important when Sami has his head dunked in the toilet by Eddie and his gang and gets expelled. The author makes this issue immediate and personal because some kids have been harassed the same way and a lot of people have seen it happen. Profiling is also a big issue that happens all the time. Sami was profiled because of his race and religion and used it to bully him. The media also used it to make Sami's dad seem like a villain. The author made this issue seem real and important because some people profile Muslims as terrorists all the time and there are a lot of racists in the world that many people know.
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