Dear readers,
I connected with Rhonda Roumani about her recent posts sharing vital information about #arabamericanheritagemonth
About the author:
Rhonda Roumani is a Syrian American journalist who has covered the Arab world and Muslim issues for more than two decades. She is the author of the Middle Grade novel Tagging Freedom (Union Square); the picture book Insha’Allah, No, Maybe So (Holiday House; May 14, 2024) and a non-fiction picture book, Umm Kulthum: Star of the East (Interlink, Fall 2024.) She lives in New Haven, CT with her family.
preorder her next book:
In her social media post, shared @kidlitsoul she says:
“April is Arab American Heritage Month and each year, librarians, booksellers and teachers create posts or displays with lists of books to promote Arab writers and stories. Oftentimes, the lists include books by non- Arab authors because very often Arabs are conflated with South Asians or more generally with Muslims. So this year I thought I’d create a WHO ARE ARABS primer to help!!”
“As you will see, the representation of Arab Authors in children’s literature is very low— making it all the more important to understand what exactly an Arab is. Take a look and feel free to reach out with any questions through my website at http://www.rhondaroumani.com.”
Rhonda made me aware of how limited the availability of Arab authored books is in reality. Did you know that the books they often count should not be counted? She shared that they count anthologies (where there is one Arab author) as books by Arabs. They even erroneously include books on ancient Egypt as Arab.
Given that there are so few books (less than 1% of all releases), I asked Rhonda to recommend middle grade (ages 8-13) reads by Arab American authors.
Here are her recommendations:
Farah Rocks is a 4-book early reader chapter book series by Susan Muaddi Darraj published by Capstone Books (for younger middle grade readers)
Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria by George Jreije
Muhammad Najem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria
Muhammad Najem, Nora Neus (Contributor), Julie Robine (Contributor)
Huda F Cares by Huda Fahmy (technically a young adult read but can be read by older middle graders too)
Let us read & amplify these Arab American authors & their essential works!
Desi book aunty
Rhonda's picture book looks so wonderful! Cannot wait. And appreciate her slides and your post here.
This post and Rhonda's post are so needed. I'm not usually a fan of 'history months', but understand their importance. Being a hyphenate of Arab descent and trying to raise a hyphenate proved difficult when trying to find kidlit reflecting our identities. So, I'm glad there's more discussion over this. I also wanted to share Cathy Camper's picture book - ARAB, ARAB ALL YEAR LONG! A title that clearly expresses how I feel whenever these months come around. Her book, TEN WAYS TO HEAR SNOW, is also a favorite.