Daniel and Ismail, one Jewish and the other Palestinian, don’t know each other yet, but they have more in common than they know. They live in the same city and have the same birthday, and this year they get the same presents: a traditional scarf—for Daniel a tallit and for Ismail a keffiyeh and a soccer ball. Taking their gifts out for a spin, they meet by chance on a soccer field, and they soon begin to play together and show off the tricks they can do. They get so absorbed in the fun that they lose track of time and mix up their gifts: Daniel picks up Ismail’s keffiyeh and Ismail takes Daniel’s tallit. When they get home and discover their mistake, their parents are shocked and angry, asking the boys if they realize who wears those things. That night, Daniel and Ismail have nightmares about what they have seen on the news and heard from adults about the other group. But the next day, they find each other in the park and get back to what really matters: having fun and playing the game they both love.
Muslims
I Am Thunder
Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem is passionate about writing and dreams of becoming a novelist. There’s just one problem – her super-controlling parents have already planned her life out for her.
Featured in WOW Review Volume XII, Issue 1
Leila in Saffron
Shy and unsure of herself, Leila discovers all the things that make her special with the loving help of her Naani.
Lailah’s Lunchbox
Now that she is ten, Lailah is delighted that she can fast during the month of Ramadan like her family and her friends in Abu Dhabi, but finding a way to explain to her teacher and classmates in Atlanta is a challenge until she gets some good advice from the librarian, Mrs. Scrabble.
The Night Diary
Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary.
Featured in WOW Review Volume XII, Issue 2 and Volume XI, Issue 3.
Yaffa And Fatima
Yaffa and Fatima live on neighboring date farms. When very little rain leads to a poor harvest, both women go to extra measures to make sure that their neighbor doesn’t go hungry.
Faith And Fury
Temple Mount is a site where worlds meet, conflict arises, and history changes. Standing in the center of Jerusalem, it is a holy landmark for Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, and has been the locus of many of the most important religious, social, and political upheavals of the last thousand years. Rumored to be the location of the Garden of Eden, Temple Mount dominates Jerusalem’s Old City and contains the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall, both of which attract millions of visitors and religious pilgrims each year. Veteran author Ilene Cooper explores the turbulent history of Jerusalem’s famous Temple Mount in this timely, illustrated nonfiction offering.
Ramadan
In the ninth month of the year, when the first crescent moon rises in the sky, it’s time to celebrate Ramadan! In this lovely board book with illustrations from Rashin Kheiriyeh, readers learn that Ramadan is a time to reflect on ourselves, to be thankful, and a time to help others.
Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets: A Muslim Book of Shapes
From a crescent moon to a square garden to an octagonal fountain, this breathtaking picture book celebrates the shapes—and traditions—of the Muslim world. Sure to inspire questions and observations about world religions and cultures, Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets is equally at home in a classroom reading circle and on a parent’s lap being read to a child.
Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 1.
Yo Soy Muslim
A lyrical celebration of multiculturalism as a parent shares with a child the value of their heritage and why it should be a source of pride, even when others disagree.
Featured in WOW Review Volume XII, Issue 1