Huda F Are You?

Gr 7 Up–Fahmy’s (Yes, I’m Hot in This) semiautobiographical comic tackles growing up and carving out identity. The author, a Muslim and Egyptian American, describes how as a teen she transferred to a new high school in Dearborn, MI, where she went from being the only student who wore a headscarf to just another hijabi. Realizing that now she blends right in, Huda suddenly feels as though she has no personality (and no friends for that matter), so she decides to find herself and try out the various hijabi cliques at her school: the athletes, the gamers, and the fashionable “hijabonistas.” While figuring herself out, Huda also deals with fitting in with her Muslim community; she also encounters an Islamophobic teacher who gives bad grades to all of the Muslim students in her class. Although some of Huda’s experiences are specific to a Muslim teen, her attempts to adjust her personality and interests to fit in are universal experiences that all readers can relate to. Huda uses spare, almost stick figure–like, cartoons to illustrate her story, which is told with easy-to-follow panels. Though her artwork is simple, it brims with emotion, enhancing the storytelling of this warm, reassuring tale.