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19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East
Author: Shihab Nye
This award winning book for young people collects all of Nye's poems about the Middle East and her experience as an Arab-American in the U.S. Ages 10 +
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Arab Science and Invention in the Golden Age
Author: Anne Blanchard
Examines the inventions and scientific discoveries from the Golden Age of the Muslim world, and discusses the introduction of the decimal system, Alhazen's study of light, the maps drawn by Al-Idrisi, and more. Ages 9 – 12.
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Breadwinner
Author: Deborah Ellis
Parvana lives with her family in Kabul, Afghanistan. When her father is arrested by the Taliban, Parvana must disguise herself as a boy to earn money for her family. Ages 10 -12
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Goha the Wise Fool
Author: Denys Johnson-Davies
A collection of fourteen tales about the folk hero Nasreddin Hoca, also known as Goha, a man with a reputation for being able to answer difficult questions in a clever way. Ages 6 – 12.
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Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella
Author: Rebecca Hickox
An Iraqi version of the Cinderella story in which a kind and beautiful girl who is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsister finds a husband with the help of a magic fish. Ages 6 – 12.
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Grandma Hekmatt Remembers
Author: Ann Morris
Three Arab-American girls learn about their family and cultural history from their grandmother, who grew up in Cairo, Egypt, and moved to New Jersey after her marriage. Includes directions for making Egyptian paper boats. Ages 6 – 8.
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Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt's Treasured Books
Author: Susan L. Roth and Karen Leggett Abouraya
Documents the inspiring January 2011 story about how thousands of Egypt's students, library workers, and demonstrators joined hands around the great Library of Alexandria to protect the building and the freedom it represents.
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How Many Donkeys? An Arabic Counting Tale
Author: Margaret Read MacDonald
When Jouha counts the ten donkeys carrying his dates to market, he repeatedly forgets to count the one he is riding on, causing him great consternation. Includes numbers written out in Arabic and in English transliteration, as well as the numerals one through ten, and a note on the origins and other versions of the story. Ages 6 – 8.
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Joha Makes a Wish: A Middle Eastern Tale
Author: Eric A. Kimmel
Based on the Joha tales of the Arabic-speaking world, in which a hapless man finds a wishing stick that brings him nothing but bad luck. Ages 6 - 9
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Legend of the Persian Carpet
Author: Tomie De Paola
Tells how the first Persian carpet was created to replace King Balash's lost treasure. Ages 6-8.
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Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
Author: Jeanette Winter
A hopeful and inspiring true story about a librarian in Basra, Iraq. Ages 5 and up.
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Lugalbanda: the Boy Who Got Caught Up in a War
Author: Kathy Henderson
An ancient Sumerian tale about the youngest and weakest of eight brothers who, caught up in an ill-advised war, uses his wits and courage to eventually become king. This is one of the oldest stories known to humankind. The author pieced together her retelling from translations of clay tablets found in present-day Iraq. Ages 7 - 10
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Nasreen's Secret School: a True Story from Afghanistan
Author: Jeanette Winter
Based on a true story. After her parents are taken away by the Taliban, young Nasreen stops speaking. But as she spends time in a secret school, she slowly breaks out of her shell. As her caring grandmother reflects, education can open windows when doors are shut. Ages 6 - 9
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One City, Two Brothers
Author: Chris Smith
King Solomon tells of how Jerusalem came to be founded with this tale from both Arab and Jewish traditions. Two estranged brothers plow their father's field, dividing the harvest. The older brother wants to secretly help his younger brother. So he takes grain in the night to his brother’s storehouse. The younger brother wants to secretly help his older brother and does the same. Both brothers are puzzled in the morning when they see that they still have the same amount of grain. One night, they meet in the middle and this meeting place is the birth of the city of Jerusalem. Ages 5 – 10
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Saladin: Noble Prince of Islam
Author: Diane Stanley
Forty years before Saladin's birth, bloodthirsty hordes of the First Crusade conquered the divided factions of his native land. In time, Saladin was destined to become a great leader, a man with the courage and vision to unite his people against the invaders. Ages 9 – 12.
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Same Sun Here
Author: Silas House and Neela Vaswani
River, a Kentucky coal miner’s son, and Meena, newly immigrated to New York City from India, become pen pals. Through their letters and email you see how they face similar problems. Their new friendship helps them cope with family struggles, environmental disasters, and even death and homelessness. Ages 10-14 J HOUSE
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Secret Message: Based on a Poem by Rumi
Author: Mina Javaherbin
In this retelling of a Persian folktale attributed to Jalaledin R?m?, a parrot tricks a wealthy merchant into setting him free. Ages 4-10
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Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Author: James Riordan
During his twenty years as a merchant adventurer, Sindbad encounters a Rookh's egg, a huge valley of diamonds, streams of amber, a terrifying sea-monster, an ogre's feast, the Cave of the Dead, and the Old Man of the Sea. This is a retelling of Sinbad's seven voyages from the Arabian Nights. Ages 9 – 12.
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Shadow
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Surviving in a cave in war-torn Afghanistan, Aman and his mother are separated from Aman's beloved dog, Shadow, when they flee for the safety of England, a situation that compels Aman to accept help from new friends to reunite with his dog. Ages 9-14
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Shadow Spinner
Author: Susan Fletcher
When Marjan, a thirteen-year-old crippled girl, joins the Sultan's harem in ancient Persia, she gathers for Shahrazad the stories which will save the queen's life. Ages 11 and up.
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Shooting Kabul
Author: N.H. Senzai
Escaping from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in the summer of 2001, eleven-year-old Fadi and his family immigrate to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Fadi schemes to return to the Pakistani refugee camp where his little sister was accidentally left behind. Ages 9-14
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Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad
Author: James Rumford
As bombs and missiles fall on Baghdad in 2003, a young boy uses the art of calligraphy to distance himself from the horror of war. All ages.
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Tiger and Turtle
Author: James Rumford
When a tiger and a turtle both want a flower that has fallen to the ground, they argue over it until a fight breaks out between them. Ages 4-8
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Time to Pray
Author: Nuha Albitar
When young Yasmin goes for a visit, her grandmother teaches her a Muslim's daily prayers, makes special prayer clothes, and gives a gift that will help Yasmin remember when to pray. Includes facts about prayer customs. Ages 5-8
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Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta, 1325-1354
Author: James Rumford
Ibn Battuta was the traveler of his age--the 14th century, a time before Columbus when many believed the world to be flat. Now Rumford has retold Battuta's story in words and pictures, adding the element of ancient Arab maps as colorful as a Persian miniature. Ages 6 – 10.
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Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur! A Palestinian Folktale
Author: Margaret Read Mac Donald
A childless woman's prayers are answered by the arrival of a talking pot, but the new mother knows that Little Pot must learn right from wrong just like any child. Ages 3 – 8.
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We're Sailing Down the Nile: a Journey Through Egypt
Author: Laurie Krebs
As the riverboat sails down the Nile River, remnants of Egypt's long history and aspects of its present culture are revealed on its banks. Ages 4 – 8
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What About Me?
Author: Ed Young
A young boy follows the instructions of the Grand Master in the hope of gaining knowledge. Grand Master sends him to find a carpet. The carpet maker agrees to help, but first he needs some thread. The Spinner will give him some thread, but first she needs some goat hair. This chain of events continues until the boy goes back to the Grand Master. Based on a Sufi tale from the Middle East. Ages 5 – 8
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Where the streets had a name
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Thirteen-year-old Hayaat makes the perilous journey from Bethlehem, across the Separation Wall, into Jerusalem in an attempt to fill an empty hummus jar with soil from the land of her grandmother's ancestral home. She is accompanied by her best friend, Samy, and aided by a Jewish Israeli couple sympathetic to her cause. Ages 9–14
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Wise Fool: Fables from the Islamic World
Author: Shahrukh Husain
A retelling of twenty-two Middle Eastern folktales about Mulla Nasreddin Hoca, a wise man remembered for his insightful and humorous stories. Each story is one single page with beautiful illustrations to accompany. Ages 6 - 12
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Wooden Sword: a Jewish Folktale from Afghanistan
Author: Ann Redisch Stampler
Impressed by a poor Jewish shoemaker's belief that God will ensure everything turns out as it should, a shah in Kabul, Afghanistan, devises a series of hardships to test the man's faith. Ages 5-8
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