Synopses & Reviews
Randa Abdel-Fattah's novel about about finding your place in life . . . and learning to accept yourself and your culture is now in paperback!
"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).
Synopsis
"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).
But when the cutest boy in school asks her out and her friends start to wonder about Jamie's life outside of school, her secrets threaten to explode. Can Jamie figure out how to be both Jamie and Jamilah before she loses everything?
Praise for TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT ME:
* "Written with insight, humor and sensitivity, Abdel-Fattah introduces a winning Muslim-Australian heroine who discovers that "honesty is liberating.' " -- KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)
* "[T]he teen's present-tense narrative is as hilarious as the narrator's in Abdel-Fattah's first book and is just as honest about the shocking prejudice against Muslims. Teens will love the free-flowing, funny dialogue, even as they recognize their own ways of covering up who they are." --BOOKLIST (starred review)
"[T]he author brings a welcome sense of humor to Jamilah's insights about her culture, and she is equally adept at more delicate scenes . . . Jamilah is a character teens will readily relate to." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"[A] witty, sensitive debut . . ." -PEOPLE
"A fascinating look at Islam" -ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Synopsis
Lebanese-Australian Jamilah, known in school as Jamie, hides her heritage from her classmates and tries to pass by dyeing her hair blonde and wearing blue-tinted contact lenses, until her conflicted feelings become too much for her to bear.
About the Author
Randa Abdel-Fattah is an attorney, a writer, a chocoholic, and an active member in the interfaith community, as well as the campaign for Palestinian human rights. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novels DOES MY HEAD LOOK BIG IN THIS? and TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT ME, both published by Orchard Books. She is also the author of the forthcoming middle-grade novel, WHERE THE STREETS HAD A NAME, published by Scholastic Press. Ms. Abdel-Fattah lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and their children.