Does My Head Look Big In This?

Bibliography:

Abdel-Fattah, Randa. 2008. Does My Head Look Big In This? New York: Scholastic. ISBN: 978-0439922333.

Summary:

In many ways, Amal is a typical 16-year-old girl. She likes shopping and watching Friends. She fights with her parents sometimes. She has a crush on Adam, a popular boy at school. But Amal Mohamed Nasrullah Abdel-Hakin is also Muslim and believes strongly in her faith. Over winter break she decides to begin wearing the hijab (a head covering worn when in the presence of men outside one's family) full-time. She agonizes over this decision because she knows the other students at her elite private school in Australia will not understand. Her Muslim friends Leila and Yasmeen are both "full-timers" already, but they attend different schools.

Her first day back at school, the principal is upset that she violated the dress code and all her classmates stare and whisper. After her parents talk to the principal, Amal is allowed to wear the hijab. Her friends Simone and Eileen support her, and eventually most of her classmates accept it. As the book progresses, Adam tries to kiss Amal, but she tells him her religion prohibits it. Simone starts dating a boy and smokes to lose weight. Leila gets in trouble with her parents and runs away from home temporarily. Amal encounters many challenges in the several-month span of the story, and she realizes that "Putting on the hijab isn't the end of the journey. It's just the beginning of it."

Analysis:

This book takes a humorous and mostly light-hearted approach to the topic of religious discrimination against Muslim women. Amal doesn't face violent or overly-cruel discrimination, but she does have to deal with the stares and occasional taunts of her classmates. Amal makes it clear that it's not the questions she dreads, it's the silent stares. Once her classmates finally begin to ask her about her faith and motivations, she is relieved. This will hopefully encourage readers that it's okay (even good) to ask someone honest questions about what makes him or her different.

The author is an Australian Muslim, just like her main character/narrator, which gives the novel authenticity. Australian words and slang phrases appear throughout the book. The hijab is the primary Muslim cultural marker in the book, but the story also talks extensively about prayer practices and other religious observances. Amal mentions some of the things the Qur'an says to do or not do.

The author attempts to authentically create the voice of a teenage girl, but goes perhaps a little too far. In trying to convey the emotions and angst of a teenager facing a difficult situation, the writing becomes repetitive and even the smallest of details is drawn out for pages. While some might feel this is authentic for a drama-queen teen, others will be dissuaded by the book's length and by its focus on trivial plot details.

Amal's friends show the reader some other challenges that Muslim women face. Laila, for example, is intelligent and independent, but her parents see only marriage and not college in her future. The book deals with discrimination, body image, smoking, crushes, relationships, parental expectations, and much more.

Reviews/Awards:

Winner of the Australian Book Industry Awards 2006 - Australian Book of the Year for Older Children

"While the novel deals with a number of serious issues, it is extremely funny and entertaining, and never preachy or forced. The details of Amal's family and social life are spot-on, and the book is wonderful at showing the diversity within Muslim communities and in explaining why so many women choose to wear the hijab." School Library Journal

"Like the author of this breakthrough debut novel, Amal is an Australian-born, Muslim Palestinian "whacked with some seriously confusing identity hyphens." At 16, she loves shopping, watches Sex and the City, and IMs her friends about her crush on a classmate. She also wants to wear the hijab, to be strong enough to show a badge of her deeply held faith, even if she confronts insults from some at her snotty prep school, and she is refused a part-time job in the food court (she is "not hygienic"). Her open-minded observant physician parents support her and so do her friends, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, secular." Booklist, starred review

Connections:
*Read other books from the perspective of a Muslim girl, such as Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye.