Zahra Khan returns in this second adventure, full of good intentions, and determined to have a better term (with far fewer visits to headmistress Sister Zainab's office!) than she did in the first book in Sufiya Ahmed's series, Zahra's First Term at the Khadija Academy. To start with, she's not looking to get expelled, this time around! But although she continues to excel in her studies, and is even chosen, along with her partner Farida, to represent the first year students of the Khadija Academy of Aspiring Young Women in their upcoming debate with the pupils of the Aisha School of Excellence (run by Sister Zainab's sibling, Sister Zeenat), Zahra finds that there are still any number of schoolgirl controversies and crises that pull her in.

From a disturbing incident in which a book at the local library is vandalized by students who object to its criticism of the Prophet Muhammad, to a mysterious series of thefts at the academy, Zahra and her friends - Marya Yusuf, Jobena Leroy, and Hannah Joseph - are on the case. But although Zahra sympathizes with those who suspect and dislike Saira Choudhury - her snobby schoolgirl enemy - and finds herself going along with the various schemes against her, she also begins to take a hard look at the assumptions of those on "her" side, from Marya's obsession with getting revenge, to Jo's apparent unconcern at the idea of physically destroying things that displease her. It's definitely another tumultuous term at the Khadija Academy!

I enjoyed Zahra's Great Debate, which continues the engaging story of a young British Muslim girl and her time at a progressive Islamic girls' boarding school. As with the first book, I appreciated Sufiya Ahmed's inspirational message for young Muslim girls: that they are the equals of boys, and need to educate and advocate for themselves. Ahmed isn't afraid to address controversial topics, from the failure of many in the Muslim community to address criticism with "words alone," rather than violence (or vandalism), to the racism sometimes displayed by those in the Arab world, who see Islam as an exclusively Arab institution, and look down on the faithful from other areas of the world (like Asia).

There are some weaknesses here, from the fairly obvious identity of the thief (in fact, I guessed that there would be such a subplot almost from the very beginning), to the continued editing errors, also seen in the first installment. Of course, I'm an adult reader who is very interested in the school-story, so it may be that what I found obvious would be less readily apparent to younger readers. I'm also an editor (of sorts), and very attentive to odd word choices, so the errors ("she had planning," rather than "she had planned") may have stuck out more, for me. In any case, despite these issues, and some more philosophical ones (I'm not a big proponent of parochial schooling), I found the story engaging, and many of the ideas put forward quite interesting. I will definitely want to pick up the third installment of the series, Zahra's Trip to Misr, whenever it is published! ( )