Head Over Heart by Colette Victor

Head Over Heart by Colette Victor
Buy Head Over Heart by Colette Victor at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: It's brilliant to see a 'slice of life' contemporary about a Muslim teen. This didn't quite work for me, but worth a look.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Maybe
Pages: 240	Date: July 2014
Publisher: Chicken House
ISBN: 978-1909489738
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Like many other British thirteen-year-olds, Zeyneb is struggling with her feelings as she grows up, and with juggling her friends and family. However, she has an extra dilemma - she's a Muslim girl who's attracted to a non-Muslim boy whom her family would never approve of. Additionally, she needs to decide whether to wear a headscarf or not. What should she do?

I think this is probably one where I need to mention context first. I’m a non-Muslim reader with less knowledge than I'd like to have of other cultures, so I picked this up as part of my continuing attempt to read more diverse books. I found it a pleasant enough read but thought it was frustrating in parts – mainly, because the decision whether or not to wear the headscarf seemed to be so low-key. The blurb seemed to suggest that this would be a major part of the novel and I expected it to be a hard choice for Zeyneb to make because even with my limited familiarity with Islam I know that it's a topic for much heated discussion. It didn't feel presented as a big enough decision here – she goes back and forth over it for a while but the eventual end to this storyline seemed a bit anti-climactic considering I'd expected it to be a major part of the book.

That said, it's certainly not without its strong points. It's really good to see a Muslim teen as a main character and it will be clear to readers who may also be unfamiliar with people from Zeyneb's religion that she's the same as them in most ways – developing a crush on a boy, dealing with problems with her family and friends, and trying to do well at school.

Overall, this didn't quite work for me, but I think it's one that I'd encourage readers to try for themselves, especially if they want to read more diverse books.

I think fans of this would certainly enjoy similar contemporary coming of age stories by authors like Cathy Cassidy. Angel Cake, about a Polish girl coming to Britain, is another good read for fans of diverse characters.

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