Sitti’s Bird
Sitti’s Bird by Malak Mattar Crocodile Books, 2022 Amidst the recent surge of books for young readers on the Arab-Israeli conflict, we’re beginning to see a few titles focusing specifically on Gaza. Picture books, like Sarah Musa’s My Garden over Gaza and anthologies like Refaat Alareer’s Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers […]
Ida in the Middle
Ida in the Middle by Nora Lester Murad Crocodile Books, 2022 Ida, the fourteen-year-old heroine of Nora Lester Murad’s Ida in the Middle, is an insecure eighth-grader with a problem: As a Palestinian-American, she feels invisible and reviled. Her classmates seem to ignore her, or they stereotype her as a terrorist. Uncomfortable as […]
Determined to Stay
Determined to Stay by Jody Sokolower Olive Branch Press, 2021 Determined to Stay: Palestinian Youth Fight for Their Village is based on visits Jody Sokolower and her daughter Ericka made to Israel and the West Bank between 2012 and 2019 to “research” the situation of Arabs in East Jerusalem. They spent most of […]
The Lemon Tree
The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2020 It’s not uncommon for children’s authors of books on the Arab-Israeli conflict to try to present both sides of this thorny issue. Perhaps they want to help young readers to see how complex the conflict is. More likely, they hope to get their books into […]
Baba, What Does My Name Mean?
Baba, What Does My Name Mean? by Rifk Ebeid Self-Published, 2020 Rifk Ebeid’s picture book Baba, What Does My Name Mean? takes young Sammidah on a whirlwind tour of a “country” called Palestine. Her tour guide is Salam, the bird of peace, but there is nothing peaceable in this book’s message: It promotes […]
Amazing Women of the Middle East
Amazing Women of the Middle East by Wafa’ Tarnowska Crocodile Books, 2020 When Wafa’ Tarnowska’s Amazing Women of the Middle East: 25 Stories from Ancient Times to Present Day was released in 2021, it was swiftly enmeshed in controversy. Its decorative two-page map of the Middle East and North Africa immediately captures […]
P is For Palestine
P is for Palestine by Golbarg Bashi, illustrated by Golrokh Nafisi PM Press, 2018 Picture books are the first step to literacy. Written for ages one to six, they progress from tactile board books for touching, to concept books for counting and colors, then on to stories. Informational picture books feature fish, frogs, puppies, […]
Young Palestinians Speak
Young Palestinians Speak by Anthony Robinson and Annemarie Young Interlink Books, 2017 There is a maxim, often attributed to St. Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuit order, that reads: “Give me the children until they are seven and anyone may have them afterwards.” In recent years, authors writing about the Arab-Israeli conflict […]
Balcony on the Moon
Balcony on the Moon by Ibtisam Barakat Square Fish, 2016 Ibtisam Barakat’s memoir Balcony on the Moon picks up where her Tasting the Sky leaves off, tracing the course of Barakat’s life from her childhood following the Six-Day War to her acceptance at university. It’s a book about the effects of the war […]
A Little Piece of Ground
A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird Haymarket Books, 2016 Elizabeth Laird is a renowned British children’s author, twice nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Ironically, it is her ability to tell a gripping story with vividly realized Arab protagonists that makes her novel A Little Piece of Ground so powerful […]