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Books! Awesome!
Today I finished a book I had never read before. I don't do this much: I don't have much time for just reading between teaching, planning and writing, so often I revert to the safe space of only reading things I know I enjoy.
Ten Things I Hate About Me, by Randa Abdel-Fattah, was a wonderful and charming way to break me out of my rut.
The premise: Jamilah is of Muslim-Lebanese origin, born and raised in Australia. (Her parents immigrated from Lebanon before she was born). In Jamilah's area of Sydney, people of Middle Eastern descent especially are targets of racism. The most popular people in her peer group are 'Anglo' (read:Australian and white) and students of enthic minorities as well as 'freaks and losers'. Jamilah, though, doesn't get targeted by this bullying - because she straightens her bleached-blonde hair, wears blue contacts and calls herself Jamie.
This is a YA novel about a mixed heritage girl coming to terms with all the pressures on her, whether they come from others or herself. She wants to be popular, and she feels to be popular she needs to be Anglo, but because at home she is Jamilah, she keeps her peers at a distance. It's about Jamilah's struggle to mix two cultures she feels are incompatible - while coping with an irresponsible, rebellious older brother, a radical outspoken older sister, and a strict single father who won't let her go out at weekends. Added into the mix is a mysterious online friend with whom she learns to be herself.
Like I said, it's very charming. Jamilah rails against the strict rules her father sets and is frustrated and confused at the double standards he seems to set with her and her brother, but at the same time Jamilah obviously loves her Muslim-Lebanese heritage and wishes she could be courageous enough to take pride in it, and I was definitely cheering her on to do so. She learns to do so - of course - but not at the expense of her relationship with her strict father. She doesn't learn to 'fit in' with the Anglo way of life - she learns to be herself, to embrace all three of her backgrounds. I found the 'mystery' of the online friend pretty un-mysterious, especially because I guessed who it was as soon as the first few emails were sent, but it didn't dent my enjoyment of the story. It's guess-able without being predictable or boring, and I genuinely cared about Jamilah, who was a very sympathetic main character.
My main issue is the depiction of the school and the teachers in the story - we only ever see one teacher's response to racist bullying and racist incidents in the classroom, and he is uninvolved and almost oddly oblivious or uncaring. Surely there'd be other teachers who would have different attitudes to the whole thing? But as a teacher that's where my attention wandered; certainly not an issue everyone would be thinking about.
So. The language is not overly-'teenaged' but not unbelievable, the good guys are sympathetic throughout even when they are making mistakes, the ending is satisfying, and it was wonderful to read something steeped in a culture so unfamiliar to my own. Definitely a book worth reading.
Ten Things I Hate About Me, by Randa Abdel-Fattah, was a wonderful and charming way to break me out of my rut.
The premise: Jamilah is of Muslim-Lebanese origin, born and raised in Australia. (Her parents immigrated from Lebanon before she was born). In Jamilah's area of Sydney, people of Middle Eastern descent especially are targets of racism. The most popular people in her peer group are 'Anglo' (read:Australian and white) and students of enthic minorities as well as 'freaks and losers'. Jamilah, though, doesn't get targeted by this bullying - because she straightens her bleached-blonde hair, wears blue contacts and calls herself Jamie.
This is a YA novel about a mixed heritage girl coming to terms with all the pressures on her, whether they come from others or herself. She wants to be popular, and she feels to be popular she needs to be Anglo, but because at home she is Jamilah, she keeps her peers at a distance. It's about Jamilah's struggle to mix two cultures she feels are incompatible - while coping with an irresponsible, rebellious older brother, a radical outspoken older sister, and a strict single father who won't let her go out at weekends. Added into the mix is a mysterious online friend with whom she learns to be herself.
Like I said, it's very charming. Jamilah rails against the strict rules her father sets and is frustrated and confused at the double standards he seems to set with her and her brother, but at the same time Jamilah obviously loves her Muslim-Lebanese heritage and wishes she could be courageous enough to take pride in it, and I was definitely cheering her on to do so. She learns to do so - of course - but not at the expense of her relationship with her strict father. She doesn't learn to 'fit in' with the Anglo way of life - she learns to be herself, to embrace all three of her backgrounds. I found the 'mystery' of the online friend pretty un-mysterious, especially because I guessed who it was as soon as the first few emails were sent, but it didn't dent my enjoyment of the story. It's guess-able without being predictable or boring, and I genuinely cared about Jamilah, who was a very sympathetic main character.
My main issue is the depiction of the school and the teachers in the story - we only ever see one teacher's response to racist bullying and racist incidents in the classroom, and he is uninvolved and almost oddly oblivious or uncaring. Surely there'd be other teachers who would have different attitudes to the whole thing? But as a teacher that's where my attention wandered; certainly not an issue everyone would be thinking about.
So. The language is not overly-'teenaged' but not unbelievable, the good guys are sympathetic throughout even when they are making mistakes, the ending is satisfying, and it was wonderful to read something steeped in a culture so unfamiliar to my own. Definitely a book worth reading.