Children's Books Fostering Understanding Across Cultures

Take it a bit deeper. Yes, we need to learn about other beliefs. However, these three books show kids learning about each other and loving despite differences. That’s the real objective. . We’ve been reading lots of great books about Middle East countries and Islam and Arabic speakers, but these three are special. . . 📕The Arabic Quilt: An Immigration Story —- Based the the author’s immigration to the US from Egypt, the girl is different than the others ar school, and they all learn from it. Sweet story. Bright colored pictures. —- Aya Khalil; ill. by Anait Semirdzhyan @anaitsart ; pub @tilburyhousepublishers . 📗Yaffa and Fatima, Shalom Salaam —- Based on a traditional story, a Muslim and a Jewish neighbor help each other out in times of need. Lovely drawn pics with a limited color palette. —- Fawzia Giliani-Williams; ill. Chiara Fedele @chiaraillu ; @lernerbooks @kar_benpublishing . Snow in Jerusalem —- Set in Old Jerusalem, a boy from the Muslim Quarter and a boy from the Jewish Quarter work together to save a cat. We learned so much about Jerusalem in this book and loved the beautiful watercolor paintings. The kids kept saying, “Look at the perspective!” 🤓 —- Deborah de Costa; ill. Cornelius VanWright @corneliusvanwright and Ying-Hwa Hu; @albertwhitman . . . I’d love a link if you have some more great books along these themes. We’re definitely in an Arabic country focus right now. I love when my kids pull the word hijab out like nothing. . . Your kids are never too old for beautiful picture books!