| Does My Head Look Big In This? | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 19 reviews)
Sales Rank: 59220
Category: Book
Author: Randa Abdel-fattah
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Studio: Scholastic Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
Label: Scholastic Paperbacks
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 043992233X
EAN: 9780439922333
ASIN: 043992233X
Publication Date: August 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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 "towel 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 A Positive, Real Life Experience September 29, 2008
I enjoyed Abdel-Fattah's "Does my Head Look Big In This?" Amal is a fun, witty but serious and moral character. I enjoyed following her path to identity as a young teenager trying to find her place in the world. She is a real person with real problems, nothing is embellished or dramatized. The book is a fairly easy read except for some Australian slang that I couldn't pick up on.
This book would appeal to anyone who has struggles to have integrity and know their purpose in the world around them. This novel mainly appeals to young teenagers because the main character is a 16 year old girl in high school.
Randa Abdel-Fattah is Muslim and lives in Australia. She is a mother, wife and successful lawyer. This book gives people who have struggled through life experiences someone to connect to. At the same time it dispels misconceptions about the Muslim faith.
There is some swearing and mention of alcohol and drug usage. The book does not promote anyone to swear, drink, smoke or do drugs.
Great book September 12, 2008
It's been a little while since I read this book, but I enjoyed it greatly. As a Catholic, it was interesting to read a Muslim perspective. It is a well-written, entertaining book.
An important book but not quite perfect August 15, 2008
I am a not in a "young adult" in the sense of what age group this book was written for, but I am still a young person. I read this book because I thought it would shed some light on what it's like to be a Muslim growing up in western culture. Randa Abel-Fattah did illuminate my view a bit but not enough and not in an interesting way.
Each of the characters in the book fit the profile exactly of a distinct personality type, and their stories were generally cliche. Everything had a happy ending. I also found the characters of Amal and her friends to be incredibly idealistic and overly dramatic for teenagers, and the way they expressed themselves many times seemed too forced or childish. They said things like, "Sheesh," "Hunk of a guy," and "Boy, you have got guts!" Real kids or real people for that matter do not talk like that unless they're acting in an educational video. Amal was very immature and rude at times, and I really didn't find myself connecting with her as a character. She would have been more believable as a middle school student than one almost ready to go to college.
This book taught the key lesson that it's important to do what you want no matter what others think of you. On the other hand, this book failed to discuss WHY Muslim women wear the hijab (or why orthodox Jewish women wear the sheital, also mentioned) and instead left me with the explanation that it's just a "piece of material" to symbolize someone's faith. Amal seemed overly concerned with what people thought of her, going so far as to make a list of "OK people" and "Not so OK people" to wear the hijab in front of. She and her friends were obsessed with making themselves look beautiful through their clothes, makeup and type of hijab they wore, which didn't seem accurate to me since the Koran says women should "not display their beauty except what is apparent of it."
In addition, Amal had a huge crush on Adam and was constantly checking him out, swooning over his every move, flirting and even thinking about what it would be like to kiss him. Her actions did not make sense to me at all given that she was wearing the hijab. I am not a Muslim, but I do not think Allah would have wanted her to look at Adam that way nor hint about what was hidden beneath what she covered. She completely led Adam on, and when he makes a move on her, she immediately jumps back and explains that she can't do anything even though her actions say completely the opposite. Examining the way Amal thought, I think she was the type of person who would have kissed Adam in that situation. Amal was proudly wearing her faith on her head, but she didn't display the actions to prove to me she believed in it.
I was desperate to know why Amal had so much trust in Allah and her faith. She went through the motions of her religion, doing certain things Allah said, but she didn't explain to me why it was important to her that she did. I also wish she had discussed some of the passages she was so immersed in reading in the Koran every day. There aren't many religious teenagers, and the author kept depicting Amal as just a typical teenager when she was, in fact, very different because of her decision to be religious.
What I did like was how the book shows how vividly scared Amal is to wear the hijab because of how it changes the way people look at her. Instead of seeing a person, people at first seem to see just a sign that reads, "I am Muslim," and I think this is very true in society. She faced harassment and discrimination and was even rejected by some family and friends. I believe it's important that we recognize the struggle she goes through. I also thought it was quite eye-opening how differently each set of Muslim parents approached their daughter's demonstration of her faith.
This book discusses important lessons, but I'm not sure it goes about them in the right way. I'd recommend this book as a good read for kids (maybe around the sixth grade?) because of the many adolescent issues it discusses like pressure to fit in, racism, eating disorders, tolerance, etc. For students at an older age, I think they would too easily recognize how many different issues were forced into the book and feel as if they're being preached to.
 Big Head, Big Heart August 7, 2008
In a charmingly descriptive chain of thought, Australian-Palestinian Amal decides to wear the Muslim scarf, the hijab, after watching Rachel from Friends singing "Copacabana" in "a hideous bridesmaid's outfit at her ex's wedding". It's the kind of intuitive moment we've all had, and the fact that Amal hinges such a major life decision on it gives her immediate plausible humanity.
We've always wanted to know what it's really like, the life of the visible minorities. John Howard Griffin classic, "Black Like Me", where the other darkens his skin and travels through pre-civil rights America and Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed", where the author tries to live on minimum wage jobs are examples. Perhaps one of the strengths of "Does My Head" is that really not much does happen after Amal dons her hijab. This book does not deal with heady issues, nor does it take place in war torn Afghanistan. Amal's father and mother are wealthy professionals, she goes to a prestigious private school and her big problems are passing Australia's comp and getting caught passing notes in school.
The significance of this book is how the wearing of her hijab affects each one of her relationships, her relationship with her parents, with her traditional uncle and her aunt, with her nontraditional uncle and aunt, with her Muslim girlfriends, with her non Muslim girlfriends, with sympathetic school friends, with antagonistic ones, with school faculty, and even with casual strangers. The honesty of Amal's voice and the complexity of all these relationships is where the success of Randa Abdel-Fattah's story lies.
Interesting and Relevant View of a Muslim Teen's Life July 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book offers a timely look at the life of a Muslim teen struggling to live her life according to her religion while she is surrounded by prejudice and ignorance. Luckily, the author peppers the book with humor, so it never gets too depressing or heavy-handed.
While I thought this book was cute and a very good effort by a first-time novelist, there were a couple issues. The dialogue wasn't always as realistic as it could have been, and some characters seemed created solely to give the author an opportunity to present the reader with another issue facing Muslims. While the latter could occassionally cause the book to come across as a tad preachy, overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone interested in a different perspective on current affairs. I think this author's future novels will be even better, and I look forward to seeing more from her.
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