Jamie is a girl with a secret. In a school where the popular kids are openly racist, she hides her Lebanese-Muslim background. This is an engrossing read about being true to one's self. The background characters did tend to be a little 2-dimensional, but a solid YA read. ( )

Jamilah, a Lebanese-Muslim teenager, struggles to nd self-identity as she experiments with her appearance and her name in order to be accepted by peers in her Australian high school

2.5 stars. There's just something about contemporary books that I find boring, especially when compared to fantasy. So yes, this did bore me...I found myself not caring enough about the story and characters to want to keep reading. But I pushed myself to finish it, and I'm glad to say that the last few chapters were more interesting than the rest. I wasn't expecting to love it when I picked it up though, and my feelings are still the same as my expectations before I read it.

Jamilah has never exposed her Lebanese and Muslim heritage to her classmates at school in fear of ridicule. However, due to certain events in tenth grade, she's constantly thinking about this matter and worrying about it. Especially when she meets guys in school and online who encourage her to be true to herself. She feels oppressed by her widower father who is extremely strict. The book is about Jamilah's journey to accept herself in all places.

The majority of the characters I either felt ambiguous to or disliked them. Only a select few I liked, including Timothy and Amy. There were several times when I didn't even like Jamilah for her being meek and selfish. She improved a lot by the end, and her weak traits were probably done on purpose, but I still didn't enjoy reading it. Timothy was a great person, and I wish he was in the book more often, but seeing that it's mostly centered around Jamilah's life, Timothy took a back seat. In fact, I wish there were more details in general about everything.

See, as I mentioned before, the main problem I had was that I couldn't bring myself to care much about the book. I was bored and it didn't spark my interest. I really don't have much against it, and I agree that it has a very good theme.

So do I recommend it? Not really, because it was boring for me. But if you're specifically looking for a self-acceptance novel with non-Caucasian involved problems, then you should consider this book. ( )

Of course this has a message.  And the author passionately cares about making sure we don't miss any part of it.  But it's also charming, fun, and relevant to anyone who feels as if they have to hide who they are or what their family is like.  I loved every single character I was supposed to, and despised every one I wasn't supposed to like, and therefore I was engaged enough to read this in just one night. ( )

This Australian teen is blonde, Jamie at school, always trying to fit in. At home she is Jamilah and she does traditional drumming. Having to hide her true self at school is driving her nuts, but if she lets schoolmates know her true self she might never have any friends.