Bibliographic info
Title: Four Eids and a Funeral
Authors: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar
ISBN: 9781250890139
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Copyright date: 2024
Genre/Format: Contemporary young adult fiction
Awards: shortlisted for the YA Book Prize in 2025
Reading level: Grade 9 and up (School Library Journal)
Plot Summary
Said and Tiwa grew up together, part of the small Muslim community in their equally small Vermont town. But four years ago, something irrevocably changed their relationship together. In the present day, Said is pulled back home, away from his private boarding school, when his beloved public librarian passes away. Tiwa, who never forgave Said for abandoning her for the private boarding school, is not happy to see him at the funeral. But before the wake is complete, the Islamic center and mosque burn down, sending both Said and Tiwa on a mission to rebuilt and reinvigorate their community before the upcoming Eid celebrations.
Author backgrounds
“…we initially became friends by bonding over how alienating it feels to be Muslim in largely non-Muslim spaces. We talk a lot about our experiences of being Muslim and how it’s frustrating that media often misrepresents Muslims. So we wanted to write a fun story that centered Muslim teens with similar backgrounds to us and spoke back to some of these frustrations that we had.” (Jaigirdar, interview with The Nerd Daily, 2024.)
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is an openly queer British-Nigerian author of YA fiction, with bestsellers such as Ace of Spaces (2021) and Where Sleeping Girls Lie (2024) under her belt. She grew up in South London, and earned a masters degree in Shakespeare Studies. She identifies as Muslim, and many of her books touch on issues of intersectionality between gender, race, sexuality, and religion. In 2026, Àbíké-Íyímídé was listed in Forbes’ 30 under 30 list. (Àbíké-Íyímídé, 2026).
Adiba Jaigirdar is a Bangledeshi-Irish author whose YA works have been widely recognized for their discussion of sexuality and minority identities. Her novel The Henna Wars (2020) was named as one of the best YA novels of all time by Time magazine. She identifies as openly queer, and is also Muslim. Jaigirdar has a BA in English and History and a MA in Postcolonial Studies.
Critical Evaluation
My delight in discovering this book was somewhat eclipsed by my experience reading it- I found it a bit slow and uninteresting at times. Said and Tiwa are both pretty accurate high school seniors, especially as they navigate college applications and deciding that their futures might not look like what they parents wish for.
The beginning of the novel, in which both characters attend Ms Barnes’ funeral (their beloved childhood librarian) and are reunited after years of deepening hatred (dislike? hatred is intense, and they’re seventeen), was quite fun. Said’s older sister, Safiyah, is the intermediary between the two; she and Tiwa are best friends. Tiwa is the most involved in the Islamic center that they all grew up in, and when it burns down, she is the most driven to repair the damage done to the community.
I liked how present Islam, in all its diverse forms, was to this story. Tiwa is Yoruban, and Said’s family is Bangladeshi; their identities are sometimes in conflict with existing expectations of Muslims, and the characters wrestle with that. I can’t say that I was especially interested in Said and Tiwa’s interpersonal drama (the book’s tagline says “Let’s get one thing straight: this is a love story”, so I knew things would be fine eventually…), but I enjoyed reading about Tiwa and Said campaigning for the Islamic center to be rebuilt, especially when their town is trying to use the land for new projects. I think the “save the [local establishment]” plot can be a bit dull, but I think it’s made more interesting by exploring a community that the reader might not know much about.
Creative use for a library program
Inspired by Said and Tiwa’s plan to rally signatures for their Islamic center to be rebuilt, it might be a fun opportunity for a library to host a bake sale, in which profits will be donated to one of the following: the library’s teen council’s budget, Friends of the Library, or funds for purchasing YA materials (maybe at a new branch of a library opening soon?) The bake sale in the book is a key part of campaigning for change, and is an accessible way to fundraise for interested teens.
Speed-Run Book-Talk
Said and Tiwa have all but vowed to never speak again, but when their favorite librarian Ms. Barnes passes away and their Islamic Center burns down during the funeral, their shared childhood essentially falls apart. Inspired by the faith Ms. Barnes had in them, Said and Tiwa plan to rebuild the Islamic Center before Eid, while 1. writing their college apps, 2. battling local government and 3. finding each other insufferable …what could go wrong?
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation
Some of the reviews for this book cite a frustration with the effectiveness of the Muslim representation that is so core to this novel. It’s not that the representation is there, but in fact some practicing Muslims have expressed discomfort with Safiyah, Said’s older sister, being a lesbian and still identifying as Muslim. The romance is also not halal (adhering to Muslim values as described in the Quran). Both of the authors are openly queer and Muslim, and have said that both identities are very important to them. An author’s lived experience doesn’t define a group of people at large, which is how I would defend this book. This is how these two Muslim authors have chosen to depict the characters in this book- there are similar authors who might write more closely to religious values.
Reason for inclusion
This book initially stood out to me because of its premise (yay, significant librarian character! not yay that she’s not alive, though) and also the co-authors. I think it’s such an exciting concept for two authors (who are also friends!) to team up and right something that fits right into their existing respective back catalogs. I can’t speak fully to the accuracy of the representation in this, but I recognize that the author’s personal experiences are what shape these characters and their setting.
References
Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah. (2026). Long Bio. Retrieved from https://www.faridahabikeiyimide.com/bio
Dumpleton, E. (2024, June 4). Q&A: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé & Adiba Jaigirdar, Co-Authors of ‘Four Eids and a Funeral’. The Nerd Daily. https://thenerddaily.com/faridah-abike-iyimide-adiba-jaigirdar-interview/
Forbes. (2026, April 14). Profile: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. https://www.forbes.com/profile/faridah-abike-iyimide/
Jaigirdar, Abida. (2026). Bio. Retrieved from https://adibajaigirdar.com/about
Time. (2021, August 11). The 100 Best YA Books of All Time: The Henna Wars. https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084693/the-henna-wars/
Walker, Emily. (2024, June). Four Eids and a Funeral. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/review/four-eids-and-a-funeral
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