Huda F Are You?
Huda F Are You?
By: Huda Fahmy
[Nominee for ‘Best Graphic Novel/Comic’ category of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
This is a very short YA graphic novel about identity and finding one’s place in a new school.
Huda Fahmy is part of a Muslim family and has 4 sisters. Her parents have just moved them to Dearborn, Michigan which has a large population of Muslims. Huda thinks this will help her feel like she belongs since she won’t be the only one wearing a hijabi anymore.
But the cliques of school can be found anywhere. Her new school has the hijabi athletes, the hijabi gamers, and the hijabi fashionistas. And she doesn’t feel like she fits with any of them.
She discovers that she is still not sure who she is and what she likes. She has a tendency to adapt whatever interests her friends have. With baby steps she realizes her value and the person she wants to be, being able to stand up for herself.
I think Muslim readers will feel a particular fondness for the story because they can relate to Huda in a unique way, but any reader will understand the pressures and difficulties of high school and becoming comfortable in one’s own skin.
Non-Muslim readers will also become more aware of the challenges Muslims may face in their schools by their teachers or their peers. Hopefully young readers will treat others different than them a little better after seeing Huda’s story and recognizing that we all stand on common ground.
There is some humor in this book— I mean with a title like that, of course there will be. I thought the drawings were well done and portrayed humor well.
As it is so short, you can easily read it in one sitting and feels more like paging through a magazine than getting involved in a story. I think it felt more like reading a few chapters than a book in its entirety. It could easily have been longer.
She has a new book coming out in October called ‘Huda F Cares?’ I mean the title is just brilliant! She has endless possibilities with future books. [Here’s a link to her website.]
If you’ve never read a graphic novel before, this may be a good one to start with to give you a little taste before picking up a longer book.
Here’s a few pages from the book as well:
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