Does My Head Look Big In This?

Author- Randa Abdel-Fattah

Publisher details- Sydney, Australia : Orchard Books, 2007.

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This young adult novel follows 16 year old Amal, an Australian-Palestinian Muslim girl as she makes the decision to begin wearing her hijab full time. All because of a piece of cloth, a lot changes. Everyone has a reaction, her classmates taunt her, yet she still stands by her faith and everything that comes with it. Through all of this, she is just trying to live her life the same as all teenagers her age.

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Listen, Slowly

Author- Thanhha Lai

Publisher details- New York : HarperCollins Publishers, 2015.

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This children’s fiction novel follows Mai, a Californian raised girl, as she travels to Vietnam with her grandmother to find out about what happened to her grandfather during the Vietnam war. Mai’s parents think it’s a perfect opportunity for her to learn more about her Vietnamese roots, but Mai doesn’t feel like they’re really her roots at all, they’re her parent’s roots. She feels so out of place, but she needs to learn to balance out her two different worlds to survive this trip.

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Sister Heart

Author- Sally Morgan

Publisher details- Melbourne : Freemantle Press, 2015.

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This young adult novel follows a young Aboriginal girl as she is taken from her family and where they live in northern Australian, and sent to live in an institution in the far south of the country. She slowly makes a new life for herself there, and through this she finds new friendships, even in the midst of tragedy.

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The Hate U Give

Author- Angie Thomas

Publisher details- New York, NY: Balzer + Bray, 2017.

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This young adult novel, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, follow an African American girl named Starr Carter as she moves between the two worlds of her poor neighbourhood and her fancy suburban prep school. The little balance she had between the two is shattered when her childhood best friend Khalil is shot at the hands of the police, and Starr is a witness. He wasn’t armed. It becomes a national headline, people calling him things like a thug, or a possible drug dealer. While others go out on the street protesting in his name. The real question that everyone wants to know is what really happened that night? The only person able to answer that question is Starr, and whatever she says holds the fate of herself and her community, as well as her life.

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Brown Girl Dreaming

Author- Jacqueline Woodson

Publisher details- New York : Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014.

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This novel is written in verse, and explores the moving story of Woodson’s childhood growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s as an African American girl in South Carolina and New York. She never felt completely at home, and she spent a long time searching for her place in the world. These touching poems detail her growing awareness of the civil right movement, and are a glimpse into the soul of a young girl finding her voice.

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Bro

Author- Helen Chebatte

Publisher details- Melbourne : Hardie Grant Egmont, 2016.

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This young adult novel follows Romeo, a Lebanese Australian boy and his experience at high school. When different racial groups collide, it results in a fight club, first loves, rules being broken and Romeo having to stand up for his Lebanese heritage.

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Meet Marly, Our Australian Girl book 1

Author- Alice Pung

Illustrator- Masciullo, Lucia

Publisher details- Melbourne, Vic.: Penguin Australia Pty Ltd 2015.

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This children’s fiction novel is the first in a series set around the life of a Vietnamese Australian girl named Marly. In this book, she is trying to fit in at Sunshine Primary School, but as she is a refugee from Vietnam, it’s not as easy as it seems. And when her cousins come to stay and her school friends begin to make fun of them, she has to find a way to stay loyal to her family, while still keeping her newfound friends.

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Our Australian Girl website