Reading Response

Question: How does this book help you to think about social issues you care about or causes you are committed to?

     The book I am currently reading is called "Does My Head Look Big In This?" by Randa Abdel-Fattah. The main character is an Australian-Muslim-Palestinian 16 year old girl, called Amal. She lives in the suburb of Melbourne with her two parents, and is about to make a big decision in her life. It is to wear the hijab, which is a Muslim head scarf. She wants to show her passion in Islamic religion and she wants to prove to herself that she’s "strong enough to wear a badge of my [Amal] faith. I believe it will make me [Amal] feel so close to God." (Page 7) She is about to enter 11th grade, in McCleans Preparatory High School. Throughout the book, she gets called names, and discriminated because of her wearing the hijab. She also is very self-conscious with what people think of her while she is wearing the hijab. Throughout the whole book, she slowly changes.
     I feel connected to the main character, Amal, because she had also faced bullying and people discriminating her of what she was wearing and her background. I also had faced this problem in elementary school. People often bullied me because I was one of the few Asian people in the elementary school.  Amal was called names like: “Towel head” and when she did anything religious in her school (ex: Praying,) people bullied her for that. I did not get bullied for religious reasons, but for my background. I, like Amal, frequently got upset about what people thought about me. However, as the year went on and on, I gradually care less about what people thought of me.

   This book helped me think about social issues I care about, mostly racism and bullying.Bullying can lead to racism, discrimination, stereotyping, etc. My opinion is that you don’t just judge someone just because of their skin color or where they are from, or their religion, etc. We are all flesh and bone on the inside, so why judge people because of where they are from or what they believe in, or their skin color? This book really connects to world issues and kids who have been bullied because of their race, background, etc. People can really connect to this story. It teachs you to never stereotype someone and to not let politics judge you.