It Ain't So Awful, Falafel

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel is a 2016 semi-autobiographical young adult novel by Iranian American author Firoozeh Dumas. The novel follows Zomorod, an 11-year-old girl from Iran, who moves with her parents to the United States in the midst of the Iranian Revolution and ensuing hostage crisis. It won the John and Patricia Beatty Award from the California Library Association the New York Historical Society’s 2017 New Americans Children’s History Book Prize, the Sunshine State Young Reader Award in 2017, and it was a finalist for the California Young Reader medal. The novel explores themes of America as a Land of Complexity and Opportunity, Being Yourself and Finding Friends, and The Danger of Uninformed Judgments.

Firoozeh Dumas is known for her humorous and insightful writing, often drawing from her own experiences as an Iranian immigrant to explore themes of cultural dislocation and identity in America. Dumas is the author of four other books, including Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (2003), A vision of Hope Addressing Prejudice and Stereotyping in the Wake of 9/11 (2006), and Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of a Global Citizen (2008).

This guide refers to the 2016 edition published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Content Warning: The source material features mentions of discrimination based on national origin.

Plot Summary

Zomorod “Cindy” Yousefzadeh and her parents arrive in Newport Beach, California. Originally from Iran, she and her family had previously lived in Iran and planned to return there once her father’s contract was up at his job. In Newport Beach, they live in a condo, and Zomorod is tasked with reading through the contract since she speaks English the best. Her father speaks some and her mother very little. 

Shortly after they settle into their new home, a girl named Cindy introduces herself. Zomorod, who has decided to go by Zomorod herself because people have a hard time pronouncing her name, calls the girl “Original Cindy.” She and Original Cindy start to hang out, but Original Cindy does not ask much about her new neighbor. When Zomorod asks if her friend would like to walk to school together on the first day, Original Cindy says no. 

At school, Zomorod tries to get to each of her classes early to tell the teachers her new name. She does not make it to one of these classes on time after she gets lost in the building, and everyone hears her real name. One boy asks if she’s ever ridden a camel. Later that day, however, another girl comes up to Zomorod and introduces herself as Carolyn. They begin having lunch together and become friends.

Zomorod and Carolyn grow closer. Soon after, a man named Skip returns their pool key, which Zomorod had lost. She discovers that it is his son, Brock, who teased her on the first day of school. 

On Halloween, Zomorod goes trick-or-treating with Carolyn and her other new friend, Rachel. She and her family celebrate Thanksgiving with mostly Iranian food though Zomorod convinces her father to get cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

On January 17, 1979, a revolution happens in Iran, removing its ruler, the shah, from power. Zomorod and her family wonder what will happen in their home country. Shortly thereafter, Ayatollah Khomeini comes to power, and one of Zomorod’s teachers asks her to do an extra credit report on current events in Iran. Zomorod doesn’t want to, but she agrees.

In February, Zomorod and her Girl Scout Troop go to a Goodwill Factory to volunteer. Their tour guide talks about dignity and how the company hires people with Downs Syndrome. When other girls act meanly toward those with Downs Syndrome who work in the kitchen, Zomorod tries to provide a good example by complimenting the food. This briefly distracts her family from what is happening in Iran, but soon the Ayatollah restricts women’s rights, requiring that all women wear a hijab. Zomorod’s father, Mohsen (or “Mo”), feels like Iran is moving backward. Zomorod starts to wonder if their lives will be in danger when they return. Carolyn does not think she should go back, but Zomorod has never considered this as an option. As others at school ask her about it, Zomorod admits that she can’t imagine going back and wearing a hijab all the time either. 

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian protesters takes hostages at the American embassy. Mo believes they’ll release the hostages shortly thereafter, but he’s wrong, and the hostage crisis begins when Khomeini’s regime comes out as supporting hostage taking. Mo is fired from his job because relations between Iran and the United States have been severed. The following Monday, Brock and some of his friends throw tomatoes at Zomorod, targeting her because Iranians took Americans hostage. A few days later, Zomorod and her dad find their trash bins overflowing with garbage that isn’t theirs. The condo association doesn’t want to do anything to help and says they’ll have to buy an extra bin. After two weeks, one of Zomorod’s teachers asks her to give a report on the events in Iran, but she puts it off until the hostage crisis is over.

One day, Zomorod finds a dead hamster on her doorstep with a note saying that her family should go back to Iran. She cleans it up without parents knowing and enlists Carolyn to help her investigate. With the help of Brock, they determine that the culprit is another neighbor, Darleen Linden. In return for Brock’s help, Zomorod reads his essay for him and discovers that he’s smarter than he seems and tells him so. Zomorod also calls Darleen and pretends to be an employee at the local grocery store. She tells Darleen that she won their annual raffle for a Christmas ham. The next day, Darleen goes to the grocery store and demands her ham, but the manager reports that no one called her. She is escorted out of the store by security. 

More and more Iranians flee Iran, including two of Zomorod’s uncles. Then, the news reports that the shah has been forced to leave the United States, where he had sought refuge, and Mo thinks that surely the hostages will be freed now that the former ruler is not in the United States. Despite this seemingly good news, Mo is still distraught about not having a job. He suddenly suggests that he and Zomorod go to Sears to get her a new bed since she sold her bedroom set. While he’s there, he starts swearing in Persian at the hostage taker, attracting onlookers. When he stops, he and Zomorod leave and don’t talk about what happened. 

President Carter attempts a military rescue in Iran, and it fails, escalating tensions between Iran and the US. Zomorod gets harassed at school as a result. When school lets out for summer, she avoids her friends until Carolyn confronts her about it. 

On July 27, 1980, the shah dies, and Zomorod and her family worry now that the regime change is permanent. Shortly thereafter, Zomorod begins eighth grade and sees yellow ribbons commemorating the hostages all over her school. She and her friends move through the year without her dad being offered a job. Ronald Reagan wins the presidential election, and Zomorod fears the hostage crisis will never end. She and her family feel sadder than ever. However, on January 20, 1981, the president announces that the hostages have been released. Despite this good news, Mo has still not been able to find a job, and they have used up all of their savings. The Yousefzadehs decide to return to Iran. When Zomorod tells Carolyn the news, Carolyn asks her family if Zomorod could come live with them, and they agree. However, when Zomorod returns home to ask for her parents’ permission, her dad promises that they will try to send her to college in the United States or Britain, and her mom, whom Zomorod has always thought wanted to return to Iran, admits that she does not. Zomorod decides to stay with her family so they can all be together. 

As they pack up their condo, Original Cindy comes over and apologizes for her mother’s behavior. Then, their neighbor Skip stops by, having discovered that the hamster was left on their doorstep. He apologizes and announces that Darleen Linden has been removed from the condo association. He also said that he talked to several members of his Rotary Club, and they lined up three job interviews for Mo. Soon after, Mo has a job, and they celebrate with their community.