Does My Head Look Big In This?

Abdel-Fattah, R. (2007). Does my head look big in this? New York: Orchard Books. Living in Melbourne as a Australian Palestine, Amal has made a major life decision in wearing a hijab full time. While attending a private high school, Amal comes across hatred due to her religion and must face and deal with her obstacles appropriately, such as friendships, dedication to her faith, respecting the elders, and breaking down barriers.  

Young adult readers will “walk the path” with Amal as she begins a right of passage of wearing her hajib, the mark of becoming a woman within Islam. The language within the text is easy to read and follow along with. Momentarily throughout the text, Arabic is presented to the reader, but Amal translates for the readers the meaning and how it impacts the story. Amal is able to express her concerns as well as stand up for herself throughout the book and is very reassuring of who she is.

Adbel-Farrath does an excellent job describing the clothing that Amal, as well as other women, wears, anything that covers her body. From teh silkiness of Amal’s hair, to describing the process of wrapping her head in the hijab. Religion is present in the story as Amal and her family stop to pray during the day. Readers will notice a shift between Amal and her extended family as some are more modern and Americanized in not following the traditional family values, such as praying and fasting.

Abdel-Farrath presents to the readers what many immigrants and persons similar go through in dealing with rejection. She provides this example through Amal going to school and wearing her hhijab that was out of uniform. It is demonstrated the right and the wrong way to handle situations and what actions should be taken when not treated fairly in an appropriate manner.

Reviews

School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—Australian 11th-grader Amal is smart, funny, outspoken, a good student, and a loyal friend. She is also a devout Muslim who decides to wear the hijab, or head covering, full-time. The story tells of her emotional and spiritual journey as she copes with a mad crush on a boy, befriends an elderly Greek neighbor, and tries to help a friend who aspires to be a lawyer but whose well-intentioned mother is trying to force her to leave school and get married. Amal is also battling the misconceptions of non-Muslims about her religion and culture. 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. Amal is an appealing and believable character. She trades verbal jibes with another girl, she is impetuous and even arrogant at times, and she makes some serious errors of judgment. And by the end of the story, she and readers come to realize that "Putting on the hijab isn't the end of the journey. It's just the beginning of it."—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

Booklist

*Starred Review* 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. Her favorite teacher finds her a private space to pray. The first-person present-tense narrative is hilarious about the diversity, and sometimes heartbreaking. For her uncle who wants to assimilate, "foreign" is the f-word, and his overdone Aussie slang and flag-waving is a total embarrassment. On the other hand, her friend Leila nearly breaks down when her ignorant Turkish mom wants only to marry her daughter off ("Why study?") and does not know that it is Leila's Islamic duty "to seek knowledge, to gain an education." Without heavy preaching, the issues of faith and culture are part of the story, from fasting at Ramadan to refusing sex before marriage. More than the usual story of the immigrant teen's conflict with her traditional parents, the funny, touching contemporary narrative will grab teens everywhere. Rochman, Hazel

I enjoyed reading this book. When I began reading it in early June, I felt like I was Amal’s internal conscious. I laughed with her, at her, and her friends. She was very descriptive in her events and telling her readers her story. A few times throughout the book, I felt as though I was back in high school, the cruelty of it and what it does to an individual in growing up to the person they set themselves to be.

Students from various backgrounds would enjoy this book as they could relate to other individuals. No matter race, ethnicity, gender, and religion, the reader will see that peers also go through such difficulty and must make the right decision and maneuver though such obstacles.