If you asked me to name one quality that a person has to have in order to be a good children's book buyer, I would say it's good instincts. You can have all the prior knowledge of books and kids and reading methods in the world, but they'll do you little good if you don't have an immediate reaction as to whether or not a particular book will work for your customers. You have to be able to intuit whether or not kids and/or their parents will want to: 1) pick up a book, 2) take an interest in it, and 3) take it home with them. In addition to instincts, though, it helps if you also have humility, because there will inevitably be times when you'll have to own up to this one simple fact: you aren't that young anymore, so what do you know?

It is true that I'm closer to my teenage years than many others doing this job. Nevertheless, I am not a teenager, so really, what do I know? With that in mind I began lending galleys out to kids a few years ago, so they could tell me point blank what books did and didn't work for them. Forget trusting my own instincts all the time — why not go straight to the source?

Out of my initial pool of galley readers there arose one girl, Katrina Van Amsterdam, with a knack for nailing the point of a story and nailing my buying instincts to the wall. Now a whip-smart 16 year-old, Katrina has the maturity of someone three times her age. She's clever, she's funny, and (when she isn't studying or swimming or socializing) she devours books at an superhuman rate. She has the right instincts, the right insights, and the right language skills to take over my job, which is why I'm giving her a piece of it!

Starting today, Katrina will be my teenage ShelfTalker sidekick and occasional YA book reviewer. Remember her name, folks, because one day this bright young bookseller's going to be asking Katrina Van Amsterdam for a job! (Brush up on your Frank Capra if you don't get that reference…)

Does My Head Look Big in This?
by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Orchard Books, 2007)
Reviewed by Katrina Van Amsterdam

For Amal, the question when getting dressed is no longer "Do I look fat in this?", but rather "Does my head look big in this?" Set in Australia, Randa Abdel-Fattah’s novel Does My Head Look Big in This? places normal teenage anguishes along the pressures of being a Muslim girl in contemporary society on Amal’s shoulders. Amal navigates her way through the last term of her junior year of high school after making the decision to wear the hijab full-time. Despite stereotypes and small-minded teasing, Amal keeps her head held high with the help of her supportive parents, her friends, and, surprisingly, her crush. The novel also delves into arranged marriages, weight problems, and competitive parents, but Abdel-Fattah writes with poise and enough hilarity to keep you turning pages. This is a must-read for any and all teenagers who feel that their differences should be celebrated, not scorned.