Arab American Heritage Month

April is Arab American Heritage Month, a time to commemorate the history and culture of the Arab community. Our collection features several titles from Arab and Arab American authors. Read on for a list of titles for children, teens, and adults that highlights their stories.   

PICTURE BOOKS

• A Map for Falasteen by Maysa Odeh
  • A school map assignment prompts Falasteen to turn to her family for answers about their home country of Palestine. Through stories shared by her parents and grandparents, Falasteen learns about the history and resilience of her country, its people, and the importance of love and family to the meaning of home.

• Nour’s Secret Library by Wafa’ Tarnowska
  • Inspired by the author’s life and true events, Nour’s Secret Library is a story about the healing power of books. When their Syrian town breaks out into war, Nour and her cousin seek shelter underground and begin to build a library where their community can escape to different worlds.

Plus, be sure to check out:

• The Arabic Quilt by Aya Khalil
• The Carpet: An Afghan Family Story by Dezh Azaad
• The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham
• Eleven Words for Love: A Journey Through Arabic Expressions of Love by Randa Abdel-Fattah
• Halal Hot Dogs by Susannah Aziz
• Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers by Lina alHathloul
• Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper
• These Olive Trees by Aya Ghanameh

KIDS

• Arab Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook by Karim Alrawi
  • Learn how to cook classic Arab dishes through enchanting folktales about Arab culture and history.

• Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria by George Jreije
  • After discovering he’s an alchemist—and that it runs in the family— twelve-year-old Lebanese-American Shad Hadid accepts an invitation to the Alexandria Academy where he must learn to harness his abilities and defeat the evil lurking in the Academy’s shadows.

You might also enjoy:

• Arab Arab All Year Long! by Cathy Camper
• Daughters of the Lamp by Nedda Lewers
• Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
• The Magical Reality of Nadia by Baim Yusuf
• Muzoon: A Syrian Refugee Speaks by Muzoon Almellehan
• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
• Swimming Toward a Dream: Yusra Mardini’s Incredible Journey from Refugee to Olympic Swimmer by Reem Faruqi
• The Turtle of Michigan: A Novel by Naomi Shihab Nye

TEENS

• A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui
  • Forced to stay in a middle-of-nowhere motel after becoming stranded on their spring break road trip, friends (and maybe more) Layla and Mira start noticing unexplainable things about their room and the one next door. When they learn that eight previous visitors died in their room, they must do everything in their power to figure out what happened before they’re next.

• Squire by Sara Alfageeh
  • As a member of the conquered Ornu people, knighthood is Aiza’s only path to citizenship in the Bayt-Sajji Empire. So when the Empire approaches war, Aiza hides her heritage and enlists in their Squire training program. But as Aiza begins her training, she learns that she may be in more danger than she realized. Will she trade her loyalty to her heritage for loyalty to an Empire?

Some additional titles include:

• Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo
• The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan
• From Here by Luma Mufleh
• Huda F series by Huda Fahmy
• Man O’ War by Cory McCarthy
• Nayra and the Djinn by Iasmin Omar Ata
• Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
• Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim
• We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

ADULTS

• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
  • Sara’s life is turned upside down when, upon returning from a conference, she is taken to a retention center for ‘observation’ after an algorithm used by the Risk Assessment Administration deemed her potentially dangerous based on her dreams. Sara notices that all of the other detainees/dreamers are women and that, for many, the 21-day observation period has turned into months. It isn’t until a new, disruptive woman arrives that everything begins to change.

• Mothers of Strangers by Suad Amiry
  • Set in 1947-1951 and based on a true story, Mothers of Strangers is about two teens who fall in love in Jaffa —a once peaceful city on the Mediterranean home to Jews, Palestinians, and Christians— and the 1947 UN General Assembly resolution that would change everything for them, their families, and generations to come.

Be sure to browse our collection for additional titles, including:

• Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora by Reem Assil
• The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan
• A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
• Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine
• It Won’t Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib
• The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
• The Republic of False Truths by Ala Aswani
• The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher
• Something About Living by Lena Khalef Tuffaha
• Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction by Solar Abdoh
• Watch Us Dance by Leila Slimani
• When We Were Arabs by Massoud Hayoun
• You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat