Does My Head Look Big in This?

Title: Does My Head Look Big in This?
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
ISBN: 978-0439922333

Plot Summary: Amal, a Palestinian-Australian teenage girl, decides to start wearing the hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering for women. She does so despite concerns from her immigrant parents, friction from other students at her elite private high school, and even job discrimination. Ultimately, she is able to get the other people in her life to come to terms with her decision, but not without some sacrifices and conflicts along the way.


Critical Evaluation: This book gives a refreshing perspective on what life is like on "the other side of the veil," including reasons for wearing the hijab in the first place - which are not necessarily what Westerners might think. It also contrasts Muslim perspectives - liberal, conservative, somewhere in between - and different cultures, such as a friend of Amal's whose mother comes from a small Turkish village. It deals briefly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but does not appear to take sides: there is a scene in the book in which Amal, praying with her parents, asks God for peace in the middle East, and she has a failed almost-romance with a Jewish boy, but breaks it off with him because she does not believe in dating before marriage. Although this authorial decision is understandable, it is somewhat disappointing that Abdel-Fattah did not explore this issue in greater depth. That said, this book is well-written, relatively easy to read, often funny, and provides an invaluable resource for those wishing to learn more about Arab, Muslim, and immigrant cultural issues.

Reader’s Annotation: What happens when a Palestinian-Australian-Muslim teenage girl at a non-denominational private high school decides to wear the hijab full-time? Amal is about to find out, as she balances her faith with the other challenges of being a teenage girl in modern-day Australia.

About the Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian-born Muslim of Egyptian and Palestinian descent. She currently lives in Sydney with her husband and family, where she works as a commercial and property litigation lawyer. She has written three young adult novels: Does My Head Look Big in This?, Ten Things I Hate About Me, and Where the Streets Had a Name. She has also written numerous articles regarding human rights in Palestine, women's status in Islam, and Muslim Australians.

Genre: Fiction, Multicultural

Curriculum Ties: Current Events, World Religions

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: What's it like growing up Palestinian-Muslim-Australian?
Approach: Character-based
Notes: Amal was born and raised in Australia, but her parents are Palestinian immigrants, and she was raised Muslim in a majority Christian society. What are the advantages and drawbacks to this kind of multicultural upbringing?

Hook: "It hit me when I was power-walking on the treadmill at home... I was ready to wear the hijab." (p. 1-2)
Approach: Scene-based
Notes: Amal decides to wear the hijab full-time, but some Muslim girls and women wear it only part-time (at Mosque or religious school), and others not at all. Why do they decide this, and why does Amal make her decision? Perhaps bring in several Muslim women, some who cover and some who don't, to discuss this issue and answer questions - or even have a "how to wear a hijab" workshop!

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 8-12

Challenge Issues: Religious viewpoint, mild offensive language. Amal often "answers back" to those who displease her, which some might also view as disrespectful. To those who objected to a positive portrayal of a non-Christian religion, I would state that all religious and spiritual viewpoints ought to be represented in a library. To the other points, I would reply that Amal's language is relatively mild for a teenager, she does not have premarital sex or even date before marriage, and she does not drink, smoke, or use drugs. Moreover, her decision to practice the articles of her faith in full measure indicate, to my mind, a fundamental respect for herself and for others, including those with different religious viewpoints.

Why I chose this book: I will admit to having felt much uninformed pity growing up for Muslim women who chose to wear the hijab, thinking they had been forced to do so and were therefore "oppressed." Although I like to think I have since outgrown this rather patronizing prejudice, this book provided me with a fresh perspective on why a woman would voluntarily wear the headscarf, from a character who is outgoing, outspoken, intelligent, funny, and most decidedly not oppressed. I also appreciated seeing the differences within Muslim and Arab cultures from different countries, as well as with the difficulties of a multicultural upbringing.