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The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story - Diverse Reads

The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story

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2021 ARAB AMERICAN CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD WINNER

Children's Africana Book Award (CABA) 2021 Honor Book

NCSS 2021 Notable Social Studies Book

Kanzi’s family has moved from Egypt to America, and on her first day in a new school, what she wants more than anything is to fit in. Maybe that’s why she forgets to take the kofta sandwich her mother has made for her lunch, but that backfires when Mama shows up at school with the sandwich. Mama wears a hijab and calls her daughter Habibti (dear one). When she leaves, the teasing starts.

That night, Kanzi wraps herself in the beautiful Arabic quilt her teita (grandma) in Cairo gave her and writes a poem in Arabic about the quilt. Next day her teacher sees the poem and gets the entire class excited about creating a “quilt” (a paper collage) of student names in Arabic. In the end, Kanzi’s most treasured reminder of her old home provides a pathway for acceptance in her new one.

This authentic story with beautiful illustrations includes a glossary of Arabic words and a presentation of Arabic letters with their phonetic English equivalents.

ISBN-13: 9780884487548

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers

Publication Date: 02-18-2020

Pages: 36

Product Dimensions: 9.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)

Age Range: 6 - 8 Years

Aya Khalil is a freelance journalist and blogger who has taught at all levels from preschool to college. her first book, The Arabic Quilt is based on events from her childhood, when she immigrated to the U.S. from Egypt with her parents and siblings. She lives in Toledo, Ohio, with her husband, Abdalrahman, and their two children. Anait Semirdzhyan grew up in a multicultural family and lived in several countries with diverse cultures before settling in the Seattle area with her husband and twin daughters. Her illustrations begin as pencil sketches on cold-press watercolor paper. She then inks the outlines, paints with watercolors, and scans the illustrations in order to edit them in Photoshop. She is the illustrator of The Arabic Quilt and other works that can be viewed at www.anaitsart.com.