Does My Head Look Big In This - Randa Abdel-Fattah

[goodreads]

Title: Does My Head Look Big In This
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Genre: YA, Cultural
Rating: 9/10
# pages: 351
Date read: October, 2008

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full- time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.

Can she handle the taunts of "nappy head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Brilliantly funny and poignant, Randa Abdel-Fattah's debut novel will strike a chord in all teenage readers, no matter what their beliefs.

Review: YA, but don't let that scare you. It's really, really relevant and really, really well-written. I loved reading about Amal's life, and though her experiences as a Muslim were obviously foreign to me, her experiences as deeply religious weren't. It was interesting to see how similar many of our moral issues were.

I also appreciated the completely unapologetic way Randa Abdel-Fattah described life as a Muslim girl and the prejudice Amal faced - from non-Muslims as well as Muslims.

Book List