Part autobiography and part novel, the book follows a girl named Zomorod who, like Dumas, moves from Iran to California in the late 1970s and struggles to adapt to her new home. Things get more complicated when anti-American students storm the U.S. Embassy in Iran and dozens of workers there are taken hostage. This causes many of Zomorod’s classmates to turn against her. Fortunately, she’s got a good sense of humor – and a few goofy allies in class.

Q: It seems as if “It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel” is one of the only English-language kids’ books with Iranian characters.

A: After (the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001), a friend of mine said, “You should try to get published because there’s nothing out there that has to do with a Middle Eastern family that is even remotely humorous.” And I thought, that’s true: If you go to the bookstore and look for the “humorous Middle Eastern” section — it’s not there. Now there are three books, and they’re all mine.

Q: At one point in “Falafel,” Zomorod’s Iranian parents say they don’t understand why it’s funny for someone to get hit in the face with a pie. Is humor very different in Iran than in the United States?

A: Well, we certainly do not waste food in Iran. You don’t see someone throwing baklava in someone’s face.

Q: A lot of the book deals with the Iranian hostage crisis. What do you most remember about that period, which lasted until 52 American hostages were released in 1981?

A: My most vivid memory is of how shocked I was that Americans hated an entire country. That was something that I could not digest. During the hostage crisis — which lasted 444 days, a long time — I remember people kept asking my family what we felt about it. We just kept looking at them and thinking, “What do you mean how do we feel? Of course we’re horrified.” Even people just asking that question was shocking to us, because it was so obvious. I am still amazed people cannot differentiate between the actions of a few and the entire other millions of people in a country.

Q: The book is dedicated to “all the kids who don’t belong, for whatever reason.” What do you say to those kids who are struggling to belong, and to other kids who might be able to help?

A: You only need one friend. The worst thing is to be alone when you don’t want to be alone.

In school, I had a nerdy posse. We were the kids who were never asked to dance — that part of the book is painfully true. I would have been the perfect bullying victim, but I had my nerdy posse. And they’re still my friends. We’re all a bunch of 50-year-old women now. Everybody needs a posse. Be a part of somebody’s posse. Make a difference.

Harrison Smith is a news aide on The Washington Post’s obituaries and KidsPost desks, reporting cradle to grave.