Any Way You Look

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Author(s)

Maleeha Siddiqui

Publisher

Scholastic

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

September 07, 2024

ISBN

978-1339010267

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What do you do with the wrong kind of attention?

Dress Coded meets Amina's Voice in this new middle grade novel by Maleeha Siddiqui.

Ainy is excited for summer! She plans on working at her mom's clothing store, having adventures with her best friend, and maybe even starting to wear the hijab--just like her big sister.

Everything changes when a boy from her community starts messaging her and following her around, even showing up at the store while she's working! Ainy knows his behavior isn't okay, but she can't find the words to tell the people around her how the unwanted attention makes her uncomfortable.

Finally, Ainy decides that she needs to start wearing the hijab to get him to leave her alone. She's always used fashion to express herself, so maybe now she can use it to become invisible.

But things don't get any better--and Ainy starts to realize that she's lost her own sparkle along the way. Maybe she can't handle this all on her own. With the help of her best friend and her sister, Ainy must find a way to stand her ground and get the respect that she knows she deserves--no matter how she looks.

Editor review

1 review

Interesting look at clothing and identity.

September 28, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

At the end of 6th grade, Ain't hopes that she can spend the summer helping out at her mother's dress shop, Naseerah's Almari (closet). She would love to design clothing and maybe even work on sewing, but instead gets stuck with helping customers and dealing with paperwork. When she finds out that her older sister, Bajjo, is going to work at a coffee shop to earn more money, she understands why her family needs to help out in this way, even if she doesn't enjoy it. Her father is in Pakistan caring for his mother, who has cancer, and Ainy and her family are living in the basement of family friends because they could no longer afford their apartment. Her younger brother, Kashif, is cared for by the mother of the house, who is very kind and helps out in many ways, but Ainy is struggling with her crush on Izyaan, the son of the family. When Gabina Auntie, who is well regarded in the community but rather mean, comes to the shop asking for a special rush order, Ainy's mother agrees to it because it will mean a lot of money, and even says that Ainy can work on the design. The downside of this is that Gabina Auntie's son, Yasir, has been giving unwanted attention to Ainy, and she's not sure how to make him stop. Her friend Safiya is struggling with all of the attention that is being giving to her infant sister, and is angry that Ainy has to spend so much time working, and feels ignored. After an incident at an amusement park outing where Yasir and other boys make not only unwanted remarks, but put their hands on Ainy, she is horrified, especially when SHE is the one who gets in trouble for inappropriate actions. She feels she can't go to Safiyah, her mother (who is busy and tired), or Bajjo (who has stopped wearing her hijab and seems distant), and tries to deal with the matter herself. With Safiya's help, she starts to wear the hijab so that she can hide under it, but knows deep down that wearing one should be an act of faith and not of escape. Eventually, she tells her friends and family what has gone on, and gets a lot of support from her mother, who tells her that it is entirely up to her and her own faith journey to decide what she wants to wear, and that no matter how women dress, they should always be respected. A short glossary at the end helps with some terms.

Good Points

Clothing is such an important facet of personal identity, and I loved Ainy's investment in her own personal style, as well as her attempts to help her mother. Showing the harder aspects of running a business was fantastic, and Bajjo was such a fantastic business woman, even though she is still in high school. Ainy's relationship with Izyaan was a good one, but his reluctance to go against his friends to support her is sadly realistic. The Pakistani Muslim community is well portrayed, and there is a wide range of hijabi experience represented, including the mother's wearing of a niqab. To get a better picture of the religious aspects of this book, I highly recommend reading Kirin's review of this book on Goodreads, since I don't have enough experience with Muslim culture to have an opinion on this topic. This author's Bhai for Now and Barakah Beats are also a great blend of middle school drama and cultural identity.

This started with some names of designers that few of my students will know. That's fine, but since designers change in popularity all the time, this inclusion might also date the book.

This is a good addition to books that address unwanted attention, like Dee's Maybe He Just Likes You (which the author mentions in the afterword), or the decision to wear a hijab, like Zia's 2013 The Garden of My Imaan or Mehmoud's 2015 You're Not Proper. I also wish there were more books set in clothing boutiques, like the 2011 The Hijab Boutique by Michelle Khan.