Title: Show Yourself
Author: Adeeba Jafri
Publisher: Cherish Editions
Date Published: July 15, 2021
Genre: YA Contemporary
Date Read: August 19, 2021
Format: eBook (note: I was sent a free copy from the publisher)
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About the Book
In Show Yourself, a new groundbreaking work by Adeeba Jafri, the story of a missing phone and a missing case of mental health is effortlessly weaved into one, thereby thereby illustrating the complexities that exist within a conservative Muslim community. Show Yourself is a fantastic piece of Young Adult fiction that draws inspiration from real life situations and important themes in order to educate and entertain teenage readers.
About the Author
Adeeba Jafri is a Pakistani-American writer, teacher and IB coordinator from NY, currently based in Doha, Qatar. She has worked extensively with international expat Muslim teens and tweens. She is also the author of three children’s books: The Baby Garden, The Path that Allah Made, and Alia and the Story of the Rose. She has two books publishing in 2021: Show Yourself, and A Zoom With a View. Her books have been featured in various blogs and literary journals. Show Yourself is her first collection of YA novellas.
📝 My Thoughts
The Story & Themes
Show Yourself is the story of 3 friends: Lena, Aliya, and Hana, as well as Hana’s sister Sara. Hana has just got a brand new iPhone and her friends can’t help but feel jealous because she always has the newest tech and the best clothes. But then Hana’s new phone mysteriously disappears, and suddenly, fingers are being pointed. The story focuses on the girls’ friendship and what happens when their trust in each other is tested.
One of the main themes of Show Yourself is mental health, especially in teenagers, and how at first it can be difficult to spot the signs that something could be wrong. Mental health and self-harm can often be hard subjects to approach with young teenagers, but this book explores it in a way that’s understandable and accessible. Using the plot of a missing phone and trust between friends and siblings, it weaves the story and the mental health theme together well.
The Writing
Show Yourself is written in a way that makes you want to read the whole thing in one go (I read it in one sitting!) – the chapters are nice and short (my favourite kind of chapter), and the story moves along at a great pace. The two novellas in the collection are both fairly short so they don’t take a long time to read.
I did find myself thinking that I’m a bit old for the writing style, but that’s because I probably am! It’s written with younger teenagers in mind, and as a 26-year-old woman, I could appreciate that tonally and thematically, it understandably felt a bit young for me. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down.
Overall
Despite feeling a little too young for me, I enjoyed Show Yourself and appreciated how the themes of mental health, self-harm, and friendship were explored. I’d definitely recommend it for teenagers who want a nice quick read, and parents who are looking for a great book to introduce your teenagers to stories about mental health.
