Arab American Heritage Month (Youth)

Author

Notes

Jordanian-American author

Formats:

Description

Sixteen-year-old Allie, aged seven when she knew her family was different and feared, struggles to claim her Muslim and Arabic heritage while finding her place as an American teenager.

2) 19 varieties of gazelle: poems of the Middle East

Author

Nye, Naomi Shihab

Notes

Palestinian-American descent author

Description

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Presents a collection of poems dealing with the Middle East, peace, and being an Arab-American in the United States.

3) Tasting the sky: a Palestinian childhood

Author

Barakat, Ibtisam

Notes

Palestinian-American author

Formats:

Description

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When a war ends it does not go away," my mother says. "It hides inside us ... Just forget!" But I do not want to do what Mother says ... I want to remember. In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near...

4) Ms. Marvel: stretched thin

Author

Shammas, Nadia

Series

Ms. Marvel Stretched Thin

Notes

Palestinian-American author

Formats:

Description

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"Kamala Khan (a.k.a Ms. Marvel) is stretched too thin-literally. She's having a hard time balancing schoolwork with being a good friend, being there for her family, becoming the best fanfic writer this side of the Hudson River ... and, you know, becoming a Super Hero. She's tired and just barely keeping control, BUT she's handling it. Totally. But when a mysterious robot tries to infiltrate Avengers Tower, it'll be up to Ms. Marvel to (again, literally)...

5) The magical reality of Nadia

Author

Yūsuf, Bāsim

Notes

Egyptian American author

Formats:

Description

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Competing to design a new exhibit for the local museum, a sixth grade Egyptian immigrant is teased about her heritage by a newcomer, before an ancient amulet she wears imparts a hilarious and helpful secret.

6) Shad Hadid and the alchemists of Alexandria

Author

Jreije, George

Notes

Lebanese American author

Formats:

Description

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You are invited to the Alexandria Academy . . . Twelve-year-old Shad Hadid has never quite fit in. The other kids at school don’t understand him, so he spends most of his time alone, cooking for his teta and daydreaming of opening his own Arabic bakery full of tasty treats. But when Shad is attacked by a shadowy monster, he learns his late baba was an alchemist with the ability to mix charms, elixirs, and mists—and he’s one too! Then Shad...

7) The treasure of Maria Mamoun

Author

Chalfoun, Michelle

Notes

2017 Arab American Book Award Winner

Formats:

Description

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Twelve-year-old Maria lives a lonely, latchkey-kid's life in the Bronx. Her Lebanese mother is working two nursing jobs to keep them afloat, and Maria keeps her worries to herself, not wanting to be a burden. Then something happens one day between home and school that changes everything. Mom whisks them to an altogether different world on Martha's Vineyard, where she's found a job on a seaside estate. While the mysterious bedridden owner a former...

8) The turtle of Michigan

Author

Nye, Naomi Shihab

Notes

Palestinian-American descent author

Formats:

Description

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Eight-year-old Aref is excited to reunite with his father in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he will start a new school, and while Aref misses his grandfather, his Sidi, he knows that his home in Oman will always be waiting for him.

9) The turtle of Oman: a novel

Author

Nye, Naomi Shihab

Notes

Palestinian-American descent author

Formats:

Description

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When Aref, a third-grader who lives in Muscat, Oman, refuses to pack his suitcase and prepare to move to Michigan, his mother asks for help from his grandfather, his Siddi, who takes Aref around the country, storing up memories he can carry with him to anew home.

10) Balcony on the moon: a Palestinian coming of age memoir

Author

Barakat, Ibtisam

Notes

Palestinian-American

Formats:

Description

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"Balcony on the Moon follows Ibtisam Barakat through her childhood and adolescence in Palestine from 1972-1981 and chronicles her desire to be a writer"--

11) Driving by starlight

Author

Deracine, Anat

Notes

Grew up in Saudi Arabia, lives in San Francisco

Description

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Two best friends delight in the small acts of rebellion they carry out against the Saudi cultural police, but Leena and Mishie still find their ambitions for college and independence challenged by cultural restrictions.

12) The green bicycle

Author

Al-Mansour, Haifaa

Notes

Saudi Arabian American

Formats:

Description

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"Since girls do not ride bikes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, eleven year old Wadjda has to scheme to get her own"--

13) Call me American Call me American (Delacorte Press): the extraordinary true story of a young somali immigrant

Author

Iftin, Abdi Nor

Formats:

14) The last nomad: coming of age in the Somali Desert, a memoir

Author

Salh, Shugri Said

Formats:

Description

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"A fresh, captivating memoir about an indomitable woman's journey from her idyllic childhood with her nomadic grandmother in the deserts of Somalia to her escape from her country's brutal civil war and eventually to America"--

15) When stars are scattered

Author

Jamieson, Victoria

Notes

Coauthor Somalian American

Description

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"Omar and his younger brother Hassan live in a refugee camp, and when an opportunity for Omar to get an education comes along, he must decide between going to school every day or caring for his nonverbal brother in this intimate and touching portrayal offamily and daily life in a refugee camp"--

16) Lost boy, lost girl: escaping civil war in Sudan

Author

Dau, John Bul

Notes

Somalian American

Formats:

Description

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Chronicles the experiences of a husband and wife who as children fled the poverty and violence of southern Sudan, describing the devastating impact of famine and war on the region while sharing memories of their efforts to adapt to American life.

17) Don't look back: a memoir of war, survival, and my journey from Sudan to America

Author

Deng, Achut

Notes

Sudanese American

Formats:

Description

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"I want life. For ten years, Achut Deng surrived at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya after her family was ripped apart by the Second Sudanese Civil War. But Achut wanted to do more than merely survive. She wanted to live. The twenty-two-year civil war essentially orphaned over 20,000 children and drove them from their villages in southern Sudan. Some of these children walked over a thousand miles, through dangerous war zones and across unforgiving deserts....

18) A long walk to water: based on a true story

Author

Park, Linda Sue

Notes

Written about Salva Dut, Sudanese American

Formats:

Child Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

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When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan.

19) Walk toward the rising sun: from child soldier to ambassador of peace : a memoir

Author

Duany, Ger

Notes

Sudanese American

Formats:

Description

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The amazing autobiography of a young Sudanese boy who went from a child soldier to an international peace activist, a struggling refugee to a Hollywood actor. Sudan, 1980s: Ger Duany knew what he wanted out of life--make his family proud, play with his brothers and sisters, maybe get an education like his brother Oder suggested, and become a soldier for his people when he's old enough. But then his village was attacked by the North Sudanese military,...

20) Tagging freedom

Author

Roumani, Rhonda

Notes

Syrian American

Formats:

Description

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"Kareem Haddad of Damascus, Syria, never dreamed of becoming a graffiti artist. But when a group of boys from another town tag subversive slogans outside their school, and another boy is killed while in custody, Kareem and his friends are inspired to start secretly tag messages of freedom around their city. Meanwhile, in the United States, his cousin, Samira, has been trying to make her own mark. Anxious to fit in at school, she joins the Spirit...