21 Childrens Books

Today is the last day of Ramadan 2016 so I thought I'd wrap up #RamadanReads with this terrific list from Colours of Us, a site devoted to multicultural children's books. I've already blogged about several of the books on this list, but many others were new to me, so enjoy!

Eid-al-Fitr is tomorrow, July 6th. Best wishes to all my Muslim friends and their families as you celebrate!

What we Celebrate

Fireworks, Orr's Island, Maine

I grew up in a family where we said our bedtime prayers. I still remember my nightly "tag line" to God: Bless Mommy, Daddy, Jerry-Boy, Nana, Polly, Christine, Coco and Ellie. And Dear God, please don't let it rain on the Fourth of July.

That's right. In my child's hierarchy of Divine Entreaty, the American celebration of Independence ranked right up there with my parents, siblings, best girlfriend, dog and parrot. That's because in my small town, the Fourth of July was a magical day.

For months in advance, men in straw hats went door to door asking for contributions. These were The Holiday Observers, basically a group of town fathers, whose job it was to make sure the holidays were properly observed.

These guys didn't just collect money. They organized the Fourth of July sack races and potato-on-a-spoon races and hoop races and sweated in the melting heat of the all-day-grill at the ball field, selling burgers and dogs for improbably low prices (I remember 25-cent burgers, could that be right?) and purchased the trophies for all the end-of-year baseball and softball All-Star games which were held that day (along with all the races) and made sure the cotton candy truck showed up, as well as the guy who sold Pixie Sticks (three-foot long tubes filled with tart sugar) and the other vendor who sold those glow-in-the-dark necklaces which you later put in your freezer (who said they lasted longer that way? what a lie) until they slowly, sadly glowed out, and most importantly, above all: purchased, and ignited, the annual fireworks display at the town fields.

For some reason this was always the best day and the best night of my young life. I'm trying to figure out why. I never won any races (Joanne Stiles, the fastest girl in town, always won them all. All. Even the potato-on-a-spoon.) and my softball team usually came in second and got the consolation trophy and frankly, the 25-cent burgers were gross and greasy. But I remember my excitement on Fourth of July morning when I'd get on my bike early and peddle downtown and spend the entire long lazy day into late afternoon with ... everyone. The whole community. You'd bump into pretty much everybody you knew and graze the bad food and play the games and watch Joanne win all the races and I've never felt so free, yet so connected, at any other time in my life. As the sun set the entire town would gather at the ball field and set up blankets and lawn chairs, staking out little family islands which actually had no boundaries, everyone eventually fading into shadows illuminated by those glow-in-the-dark necklaces, until the first of the Holiday Observers pyrotechnics sputtered to life and ... the moment we had all been waiting for! The fireworks.

They were predictable as well as spectacular, which is why we loved them. There were the cannon booms and individual sparklies which burst over our heads in varying colors and circumferences. There was the "waterfall," in which a string of white lights erupted into a Niagara-like cascade of sparks. There was the Portrait of George Washington, a "tableau" if you will, of red,white and blue flame. And of course, the penultimate Grand Finale. So loud, so bright, so many fireworks shot into the sky at once. When it was over, to the smell of sulphur and the haze of drifting smoke and ash, we gathered our coolers and blankets and lawn chairs and herdlike, shuffled en masse to our cars or neighborhoods if we were walking distance ... or even if we weren't walking distance, it made more sense to walk a mile than deal with the clog of cars. In the dark, amidst the strange smells of afterburn, we resembled a retreat of sorts. A shadowy, hasty evacuation. Keeping track of the small children was important.

I loved it all, every bit of it, and prayed the weather would comply each year. Sometimes it didn't, and this was a bitter disappointment. I don't think my own children, despite growing up in a smallish town and coming from a community where fireworks and cookouts are a big part of life, had quite the experience I had. That heady combination of freedom and community. This massive party to which we were all invited and everyone belonged.

I still pray. I'm a big believer in prayer, actually, although the list has changed. And grown. Exponentially. And I've changed. And I'm worried my country has changed, too. And while I still love fireworks and clapped and laughed the other night watching the lovely display over the water near Orr's Island and I'm making potato salad and burgers on the grill for friends this afternoon, I have a nagging sense that's not enough. It's not enough to simply be happy and have fun today. Not when I read what passes for political "discourse" these days. Not when I see our country locked in a state of perpetual war. And young men who graduated from high school with my son don uniforms and talk about their future deployments.

Roy Scranton, a writer I never heard about until I read his essay in The New York Times, is a veteran who urges us to examine what we celebrate today. I think he speaks with the hard-earned authority of someone who has seen combat and put his life on the line. Take a look at his essay. These lines particularly resonated with me:

There is another version of America beyond the noise our fireworks make: not military strength, but the deliberate commitment to collective self-determination. Perhaps this Fourth of July we could commemorate that. Instead of celebrating American violence, we might celebrate our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the ideals those documents invoke of an educated citizenry deciding its fate not through war but through civil disagreement.

John Lewis, who crossed that bridge at Selma and sat on the floor of the House of Representatives last week comes to mind. Who, or what, can you name?

Best Eid Ever

The Best Eid Ever, written by Asma Mobin-Uddin and illustrated by Laura Jacobsen, is about Aneesa, a Muslim girl who will celebrate Eid with her grandmother because her parents are away.

To cheer Aneesa, who misses her parents, grandma gifts her with several beautiful outfits, one for each of the three days of Eid. However, when Aneesa wears one of them to the mosque, she notices some refugee girls who are dressed poorly ... I guess you can imagine what happens next.

This read-aloud for young elementary school kids would be a great choice for Muslim and non-Muslim children alike, and is perfect not only for teaching simple lessons about generosity and kindness, but also for capturing the spirit of Ramadan and Eid.

Neighbors to the North

Instead of posting a #kidlit recommendation for #RamadanReads today, I'm sharing this article from today's New York Times: Refugees Encounter a Foreign Word: Welcome.

It's an inspiring but also unblinking look at the generous, heroic actions of Canadians who are sponsoring Syrian families. And it reminded me of many Mainers I've met, and learned from, over the years, who have devoted their careers, their time, and their friendship to newcomers from around the world. Several that come to mind (and I encourage you to visit these sites and check out their work!):

Julia Sleeper of Tree Street Youth in Lewiston, Maine

Molly Haley of The Telling Room in Portland, Maine

Kirsten Cappy and Anne Sibley O'Brien, creators of I'm Your Neighbor

These folks inspire me! I hope they inspire you.

Eid Reads

Ramadan is ending soon, which means Muslim families are preparing for Eid on July 6th.

As I was putting together my list for this last week of #RamadanReads blog posts I found this incredible site, All Done Monkey, which not only has a wealth of suggestions for kids, but is super well-written and accessible. There are also "teaching plans" for your classes and your own families.

I got completely lost in this site, jumping from one great recommendation to the next ... yeah, like an excited monkey. I know: such a book nerd. But this site is a terrific resource, and I guarantee you will spend a lot of time here. I guess that's a warning: Time Suck Ahead. Because it's that good.

Thanks to Leanna at All Done Monkey for creating this wonderful resource!

Golden Domes

This color-themed, read-aloud book for the very young (ages 0-3) introduces Islam to both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors is written by Hena Khan and illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini.

Salaam Reads

Growing up in Connecticut as a Muslim-American girl, Zareen Jaffery came of age reading books by established kidlit authors like Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. These books fueled her love for reading, but didn't necessarily help her find her "place" in the world. She didn't see herself reflected in those books.

Today, while Muslim characters in children's books are still scarce, they won't be for long if Jaffery, now an Executive Editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, has anything to do about it. This year she became head of their new imprint, Salaam Reads, which features Muslim characters and stories.

Salaam Reads aims to offer Muslim kids an opportunity to see themselves reflected positively in published works. The imprint, which takes its name from the Arabic word for “peace,” plans to publish books for young readers of all ages, including picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult.

So far, Salaam Reads has acquired four books that will come out in 2017, including “Salam Alaikum,” a picture book based on a song by the British teen pop singer Harris J. Others planned for release next year are “Musa, Moises, Mo and Kevin,” a picture book about four kindergarten friends who learn about one another’s holiday traditions; “The Gauntlet of Blood and Sand” by Karuna Riazi, about a 12-year-old Bangladeshi-American who sets out to save her brother from a supernatural board game, and “Yo Soy Muslim,” a picture book by the poet Mark Gonzales.

In addition to publishing works acquired through literary agents, Salaam Reads will also consider for publication unagented and/or unsolicited manuscripts. Submissions can be sent to SalaamReads@SimonandSchuster.com.

This post is adapted from an article in The New York Times and from the website I'm Your Neighbor.