Notes

"Welcome to my world. Im Amal Abdel-Hakim, a sixteen-year old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still getting to grips with my various identity hyphens. Its hard enough to be cool as a teenager when being one issue behind the Cosmo disqualifies you from the in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and getting in the "bums up" postion at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time. Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles of their own. Simone, blonde and gorgeous, has got serious image issues, and Leila's rally intelligent but her parents are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high school certificate. And I thought I had problems ... " Winner of the 2006 Australian Book Industry award. Australian Book of the Year award for older children.