Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones tells the story of Rama and her family, who are forced to flee their once-peaceful village to escape the ravages of the civil war raging ever closer to their home. With only what they can carry on their backs, Rama and her mother, father, grandfather and brother, Sami, set out to walk to freedom in Europe.

Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 3.

Stepping Stones is a WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for July 2017.

Balcony On The Moon

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.

Baddawi

Baddawi is the story of a young boy named Ahmad struggling to find his place in the world. It explores the childhood of the author’s father from a determinedly boy’s-eye view. Ahmed was raised in the refugee camp of Baddawi in northern Lebanon, one of many thousands of children born to Palestinians who fled (or were expelled from) their homeland during the 1948 war that established the state of Israel. Ahmad’s dogged pursuit of education and opportunity echoes the journey of the Palestinian people, as they make the best of their existing circumstances while remaining determined to one day return to their homeland.

Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 1.

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel

Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh is the new kid on the block. It’s the late 1970s, and fitting in becomes more difficult as Iran makes U.S. headlines with protests, revolution, and finally the taking of American hostages. Nothing can distract Cindy from the anti-Iran sentiments that creep way too close to home.

Dare To Disappoint

As a child in Izmir, Turkey in the 1980 and 90s, Ozge Samanci watched as her country struggled between its traditional religious heritage and the new secular westernized world of brand-name products and television stars. In Ozge’s own family, she struggled to figure out the place where she belonged, too. Her older sister was a perfect student, and her dad hoped Ozge would study hard, go to good schools, and become an engineer to find stability in their country’s uncertain economic climate. But Ozge was a dreamer and wanted adventure. Could she be a scuba diver like Jacques Costeau? Or should she become a world-famous actress? This touching memoir shows how Ozge dared to overcome both her family and her country’s expectations to find happiness by being an artist.

The Red Apple

On a cold winter’s day, Rabbit leaves his burrow in search of food, but all he can find is a single red apple hanging far out of reach. Rabbit tries and tries to get his animal friends to help him reach it, but none of them can manage it. When they accidentally wake Bear from her hibernation, they all work together to figure out a way to get what they want.

Join the discussion of The Red Apple as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.

Mike’s Place

There’s a rule at Mike’s Place: never, ever talk politics or religion. At this blues bar on the Tel Aviv beachfront, an international cast of characters mingles with the locals, and everyone is welcome to grab a beer and forget the conflict outside. At least, that’s the story Jack and Joshua want to tell in their documentary. But less than a month after they begin filming, Mike’s Place is the target of a deadly suicide bombing. Mike’s Place chronicles the true story of an infamous terrorist attack in painstaking detail. Rarely has the slow build to tragedy, and the rebirth that follows, been captured with such a compassionate and unflinching eye.

The Green Bicycle

Spunky eleven-year-old Wadjda lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with her parents. She desperately wants a bicycle so that she can race her friend Abdullah, even though it is considered improper for girls to ride bikes. Wadjda earns money for her dream bike by selling homemade bracelets and mixtapes of banned music to her classmates.