Mariam Hassan is the only Muslim girl in her new school — her new Catholic school. In Hail, Mariam by Huda Al-Marashi (published 2026), she comes to a new understanding about her religion and how she can relate to the world around her as she navigates a difficult situation. Although there are so many things different between Muslim and Catholic, and between both of those and my own religion, the book was universal. We have so many things in common with each other. Struggling to be a representative of one’s faith is a universal feeling, a universal goal. For that reason alone I loved reading Hail, Mariam. That said, religious understanding is only a part of Mariam’s journey in this book, for the things she struggles with feel even more universal than that.
Mariam wants so much to be recognized as good, and now that she is in a Catholic school, she wants to make sure she is also a good example of her religion. Everything seems destined to fail for her, though, since she does not know cursive and is behind in math. With the new school, she now finds herself questioning what is right for herself. She struggles with the images of Jesus, since Muslims are not okay with iconography. She longs to be a part of the class leadership but there is already a tradition. She wonders where she can shine in a school where she is different from everyone else by the biggest difference of all, it seems.
It is Mariam’s family that brings Mariam back to a place of peace and comfort as her school and family world’s combine. As happens in life, the things she was worried about subside to the background as other things happen that take higher priority. Love and friendship matter most, and those are the things that tie Mariam to her new friends and even more so to her family. I really liked Miriam’s story.
