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Here are some of our favorite books that depict Middle Eastern cultures for children and teens. These books can all be found in the Easy, Juvenile, and Teen sections of the library, unless otherwise noted.
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The House Without Lights
by Reem Faruqi
House watches as its neighbors' lights twinkle during the winter holidays, hoping it will one day shine too, and after new owners move in, House learns that families celebrate joy and togetherness in their own way.
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Looking for the Eid Moon
by Sahtinay Abaza
Two sisters search the night sky, looking for the crescent moon that signals the start of Eid, the Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan.
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Moon's Ramadan
by Natasha Khan Kazi
Combining glimpses of different countries' celebrations with corresponding phases of the moon, this accessible book introduces the holiday of Ramadan—a month of peace during which children and their families do good deeds in honor of those who have less.
This title can be found in the Easy Holiday - RA section of the library.
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Salma the Syrian Chef
by Ahmad Danny Ramadan
When Salma wants to cheer her mother up by cooking a homemade Syrian meal, the staff and other newcomers in her welcome center are happy to lend a hand.
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The Katha Chest
by Radhiah Chowdhury
Piecing together themes of love, culture and memory, this multigenerational story follows Asiya as she visits Nanus house, where she learns about the bold and brave women in her family through the quilts Nanu has collected.
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Under My Hijab
by Hena Khan
As a young girl observes that each of six women in her life wears her hijab and hair in a different way, she considers how to express her own style one day.
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Seven Special Somethings: A Nowruz Story
by Adib Khorram
Wanting to add his cat to his family’s haft-seen to honor the Persian New Year, young Kian accidentally upsets the whole table and is challenged to find alternate special symbols in time for the Nowruz celebration.
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My Grandma and Me
by
Mina Javaherbin
The true story of a young girl in Iran and her grandmother in a heartwarming ode to families that celebrates small moments of love that become lifelong memories.
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Saffron Ice Cream
by Rashin Kheiriyeh
Rashin is an Iranian immigrant girl living in New York, excited by her first trip to Coney Island, and fascinated by the differences in the beach customs between her native Iran and her new home--but she misses the saffron flavored ice cream that she used to eat.
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Salma Makes a Home
by Ahmad Danny Ramadan
After a year, eleven months, and six days apart, Salma's dad is finally joining her family in their new home. Salma is so happy to see her baba-but she's also worried. What if he misses Syria so much that he leaves them again? She throws herself into showing him around the city and helping him learn English, but as Baba shares memories of Damascus Salma starts to realize how much she misses Syria, too.
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Fawzia Gilani's Treasury of Eid Tales
by Fawzia Gilani-Williams
Teeming with faith, kindness, and charity, this wonderful collection of 14 Eid tales features a colorful cast of characters who embrace the traditions and customs of this Muslim holiday.
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Meet Yasmin!
by Saadia Faruqi
Pakistani American second grader Yasmin learns to cope with the small problems of school and home, while gaining confidence in her own skills and creative abilities.
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Grounded: a Novel
by Aisha Saeed
Told from alternating viewpoints, this story of one unexpected night at an airport brings together four kids—poet Feek, cat lover Hanna, karate champ Sami and politician's daughter Nora—in an encounter that forever changes their lives.
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Unsettled
by Reem Faruqi
Young Nurah reluctantly moves with her family from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Georgia, but, after some ups and downs, begins to feel at home.
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The Elephant in the Room
by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Separated from her mother during a long immigration waiting period, young Sila accompanies her mechanic father outside their Oregon hometown before forging connections with an elderly lottery winner, an abused circus elephant and an unusual boy.
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More to the Story
by
Hena Khan
A tale inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women follows the experiences of a Muslim-American writer whose ambition to win a national media contest is complicated by her family’s relocation overseas and her sister’s dangerous illness.
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Accidental Trouble Magnet
by
Zanib Mian
Imaginative Omar goes through the ups and downs of starting a new school and making new friends with the help of his wonderful (and silly) Muslim family.
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Silverworld
by
Diana Abu-Jaber
Casting a desperate spell to save a beloved grandmother who everyone else thinks is ill, a Lebanese-American girl finds herself in an enchanted world that is falling dangerously out of balance.
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Please note: This list include both Teen Middle and Teen High School titles, unless otherwise noted.
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Sisters of the War
by Rania Abouzeid
An award-winning journalist and author of No Turning Back documents the tragic story of the Syrian civil conflict that has caused millions to become refugees and ended hundreds of thousands of lives, sharing insights into the war from the perspectives of two pairs of siblings on opposing sides.
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A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
by Atia Abawi
When the city where he lives with his large, loving family is destroyed by Daesh fighters who bomb buildings, commit acts of violence, and publicly execute anyone who resists, a heartbroken Tareq embarks on the perilous life of a refugee traveling a dangerous route from Syria through Turkey and Greece.
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Four Eids and a Funeral
by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Returning home early for a funeral and for the summer, Said Hossain finds it hard to avoid facing his ex-best friend, Tiwa Olatunji, who pretends he doesn't exist, until they are brought together to save their Islamic center from demolition.
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A Bit of Earth
by Karuna Riazi
In this captivating retelling of The Secret Garden, difficult child Maria Latif arrives in Long Island from Pakistan to live with the strange Clayborne family where she discovers an off-limits garden that becomes a place where she finally feels at home.
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Perfectly Parvin
by Olivia Abtahi
Heartbroken and humiliated when she is dumped just days into her first relationship, Iranian American Parvin Mohammadi struggles to remain true to herself while attempting to prove to a school heartthrob that she is rom-com girlfriend material.
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Barakah Beats
by Maleeha Siddiqui
Leaving Islamic school to attend public school, twelve-year-old Nimra Sharif joins the school’s popular eighth grade boy band, Barakah Beats, in an attempt to fit in.
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City of the Plague God
by Sarwat Chadda
Thirteen-year-old Sikander Aziz has to team up with the hero Gilgamesh in order to stop Nergal, the ancient god of plagues, from wiping out the population of Manhattan.
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A Very Large Expanse of Sea
by Tahereh Mafi
A year after 9/11, Muslim teenager Shirin has completely withdrawn from social life, until she meets Ocean James in her biology class and is tempted to actually let her guard down.
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Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story)
by Daniel Nayeri
At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. But Khosrou's stories are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the refugee camps of Italy, and further back to Isfahan.
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Internment
by
Samira Ahmed
Set in a futuristic United States where Muslim-Americans are forced into internment camps, and Layla Amin must lead a revolution against complicit silence
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Nowhere Boy
by Katherine Marsh
Fourteen-year-old Ahmed, a Syrian refugee living on his own in Brussels, Belgium, meets Max, a thirteen-year-old American boy, and the two form an important friendship.
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Code of Honor by Alan GratzWhen Iranian-American Kamran Smith learns that his big brother, Darius, has been labelled a terrorist, he sets out to piece together the codes and clues that will save his brother's life and his country from a deadly terrorist attack.
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Darius the Great Is Not Okay
by Adib Khorram
A Persian-American youth who prefers pop culture to the traditions of his mixed family struggles with clinical depression and the misunderstandings of older relatives while bonding with a boy who helps him embrace his Iranian heritage.
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