Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
About Does My Head Look Big in This?
Amal has a lot of hyphens to deal with-- she's an Australian Palestinian Muslim, and to make matters more difficult, she's considering wearing the hijab full time in her "outside life" at her elite prep school.
As Amal decides to go forth with her decision, her role changes drastically at school and in her community. Though Amal emphasizes that the decision to wear the hijab is hers and hers alone, she's met with a variety of reactions, with many people in her community revealing prejudices.
Meanwhile, Amal's role as an Australian Muslim is further challenged as she learns more about the lives of her friends, Yasmeen and Leila. Abdel-Fattah portrays a variety of Muslims-- from the free-spirited and non-hijab wearing Yasmeen to Leila, whose mother sees her only as a future wife and mother. Abdel-Fattah makes it clear to the reader that there is no singular portrait of a Muslim.
Still, Amal has to deal with all the fairly ordinary struggles of being a teenager (boys, body image, boys, friends, boys, clothes, boys, and families, to name a few) that in many cases are further compounded by Amal wearing, as she puts it, "a piece of cloth."
As Amal decides to go forth with her decision, her role changes drastically at school and in her community. Though Amal emphasizes that the decision to wear the hijab is hers and hers alone, she's met with a variety of reactions, with many people in her community revealing prejudices.
Meanwhile, Amal's role as an Australian Muslim is further challenged as she learns more about the lives of her friends, Yasmeen and Leila. Abdel-Fattah portrays a variety of Muslims-- from the free-spirited and non-hijab wearing Yasmeen to Leila, whose mother sees her only as a future wife and mother. Abdel-Fattah makes it clear to the reader that there is no singular portrait of a Muslim.
Still, Amal has to deal with all the fairly ordinary struggles of being a teenager (boys, body image, boys, friends, boys, clothes, boys, and families, to name a few) that in many cases are further compounded by Amal wearing, as she puts it, "a piece of cloth."
How would I teach Does My Head Look Big In This?
A few themes present in Does My Head Look Big In This? include:
- Obligations to family
- Obligations to faith
- Role of minorities as representatives
- Identity and perception
- Diversity of roles within singular perceptions
- Adichie's "Danger of the Single Story"
What resources could I use to teach Does My Head Look Big In This?
- Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese
- Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
- Stephan Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Gloria Whelan's Homeless Bird
- Theme for English B, Langston Hughes
- Reflection, Mulan
- RENT (musical)
- Geek in the Pink-- Jason Mraz
- Everyday People-- Sly and the Family Stone
- Brave-- Sara Bareilles
- I Don't Want to Be-- Gavin DeGraw
- Don't Be Shy-- Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam
- Discussing Islamophobia is necessary to understand the emotions of the main character. Though these materials are often difficult to study, they are real and current, and are seen far too frequently to ignore. A selection of images is below:
Verdict
There are many valuable perspectives contained in this novel. Amal is an enjoyable protagonist, and her drama-filled debates with her friends are entertaining and relatable. Amal also emphasizes the diversity within her Muslim community, which is a powerful and rarely-offered perspective.
However, the novel would likely not appeal to all students. The book moves moderately slowly, which would definitely leave some readers behind. In addition, the tone of the book would definitely bother some readers-- at some points in the novel, Abdel-Fattah seems to be writing caricatures. A few characters were pretty one dimensional-- friend with overbearing parents, mean girl who wants to rule the school, cronies who help the head mean girl, friend with weight issues, etc.-- and could have benefited from being fleshed out a little more. I think that this would have prevented the novel from sounding a little too 'holier than thou.'
Despite this, the novel does make excellent points that are not being made in many other works of Young Adult literature:
"Amal...what those Muslims did in Bali was so horrible, so if you could explain it to everybody why they did it and why Islam justifies it, we could all try to understand. What do you think?"
"...You're Christian, right?"
"Yeah...what's that got to do with anything?"
"OK, well I'll give the speech if you give a speech about the Ku Klux Klan."
I would likely include this novel in grades 8 or 9 in a selection of literature circle options.
However, the novel would likely not appeal to all students. The book moves moderately slowly, which would definitely leave some readers behind. In addition, the tone of the book would definitely bother some readers-- at some points in the novel, Abdel-Fattah seems to be writing caricatures. A few characters were pretty one dimensional-- friend with overbearing parents, mean girl who wants to rule the school, cronies who help the head mean girl, friend with weight issues, etc.-- and could have benefited from being fleshed out a little more. I think that this would have prevented the novel from sounding a little too 'holier than thou.'
Despite this, the novel does make excellent points that are not being made in many other works of Young Adult literature:
"Amal...what those Muslims did in Bali was so horrible, so if you could explain it to everybody why they did it and why Islam justifies it, we could all try to understand. What do you think?"
"...You're Christian, right?"
"Yeah...what's that got to do with anything?"
"OK, well I'll give the speech if you give a speech about the Ku Klux Klan."
I would likely include this novel in grades 8 or 9 in a selection of literature circle options.