Ten Things I Hate About Me - Hardcover

Abdel-fattah, Randa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0545050553 ISBN 13: 9780545050555

Publisher: Orchard Books, 2009

Synopsis

Randa Abdel-Fattah's new novel about about finding your place in life . . . and learning to accept yourself and your culture.

"At school I'm Aussie-blonde Jamie -- one of the crowd. At home I'm Muslim Jamilah -- driven mad by my Stone Age dad. I should win an Oscar for my acting skills. But I can't keep it up for much longer..."

Jamie just wants to fit in. She doesn't want to be seen as a stereotypical Muslim girl, so she does everything possible to hide that part of herself. Even if it means pushing her friends away because she's afraid to let them know her dad forbids her from hanging out with boys or that she secretly loves to play the darabuka (Arabic drums).

About this title

About the Author:

RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH is an attorney, a writer, and an active member in the interfaith community, as well as a member of the Palestinian human rights campaign. Her first book is the critically acclaimed novel Does My Head Look Big in This? She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and their baby daughter.

From Publishers Weekly:

Jamilah Towfeek hides her Lebanese-Muslim background from the other kids at her Australian school "to avoid people assuming I fly planes into buildings as a hobby." She dyes her hair blonde, wears blue contacts and stands by when popular kids make racist remarks. Passing as "Jamie" is fraught with difficulties: she can't invite friends to her house, lies to cover up her widower dad's strict rules and reveals her true self only to an anonymous boy she meets online (her e-mail address is "Ten_Things_I_Hate_About_Me"). Tensions at home and school culminate when the band she plays in at her madrassa (Islamic school) is hired to perform at her 10th-grade formal. Abdel-Fattah (Does My Head Look Big in This?) follows a predictable pattern and uses familiar devices, such as the understanding teacher ("If [your friends] don't know the real you, then you've already lost them"). On the other hand, the author brings a welcome sense of humor to Jamilah's insights about her culture, and she is equally adept at more delicate scenes, for example, Jamilah's father recounting memories of Jamilah's mother. For all the defining details, Jamilah is a character teens will readily relate to. Ages 12–up. (Jan.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0545050553
• ISBN 13: 9780545050555
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304