Sunday, June 17, 2007
DOES MY HEAD LOOK SHOT IN THIS?
An Australian children’s book (Does My Head Look Big In This?, by Randa Abdel-Fattah) receives a positive review in the Montreal Gazette:
Being a teenager isn’t easy at the best of times, but 16-year-old Amal has decided to do something that will complicate things further: wear a hijab full time.
Her parents and teacher try to talk her out of it - she was born and raised in Australia - but she’s made up her mind, and she doesn’t want to back down.
It’s not easy. First, there are the nasty girls at her new school. And there’s her crush on a non-Muslim boy. Then there’s her best friends: one’s obsessed with her weight and the other has a bossy family.
This debut novel is funny, smart, serious, and fun.
It’s for anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong.
Sure; all alienated teens can relate to oppressive religious strictures. As it happens, I’m working on a similar novel, with a feel-good ending tailored for the Middle Eastern market:
Being a teenager isn’t easy at the best of times, but 16-year-old Amal has decided to do something that will complicate things further: stop wearing her hijab.
Her parents and brothers try to talk her out of it - she was born and raised under fundamentalist Islam - but she’s made up her mind, and she doesn’t want to back down.
So they kill her.