Tag: hijab
Sister Friend by Jamilah Thompkins-bigelow, Illustrated By Shahrzad Maydani
Sister Friend
by Jamilah Thompkins-bigelow, Illustrated By Shahrzad Maydani
Abrams
Perfect for fans of The Day You Begin and Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away, author Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and illustrator Shahrzad Maydani’s Sister Friend is a heartwarming new picture book celebrating the unique joy of cultivating friendships within your cultural community.
Ameena feels invisible. It’s been that way since she started at her new school. But now there is another new girl in class. Ameena sees her brownness and her hijab, even though the other kids do not.
Ameena wants to be her friend, but she can’t seem to find the right words or do the right things. Until one day, they find them together: “Assalamu Alaikum, Sister. Welcome.”
Cover image and summary via Abrams
Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball by Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, Judith Henderson, Katherine Ahmed
Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball by Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, Judith Henderson, Katherine Ahmed
A Muslim American basketball star is forced to make a difficult choice in this true story about breaking barriers. Bilqis was born to play basketball. At three, she has her own hoop. By seventeen, she’s the star of her varsity team and soon headed to college on a full scholarship, where she will be the first woman to play in a hijab in NCAA history. She is even invited to play basketball with President Obama at the White House. But at key points in her basketball career Bilqis faces rules that require her to choose between her Muslim faith and playing on the court. When international headgear regulations force her to make the heartbreaking decision to give up the game, Bilqis leads a full-court press to have the rule reversed, advocating for Muslim girls and all girls and women in sport. A modern hero: kids will be thrilled by her skill and inspired by her conviction.A Muslim American girl at the top of her game makes a difficult choice in this powerful and beautifully told true story about breaking barriers.
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir was born to play basketball. At three, she has her own hoop. By seventeen, she’s the star player on her school’s varsity team. On the day of the playoffs, though, the referee says she can’t play while wearing her hijab. Her teammates refuse to play, the crowd shouts its support and the referee relents. With that game, Bilqis becomes the all-time lead scorer in Massachusetts State history and goes on to play college ball, where she is the first woman to play in a hijab in the NCAA – she even plays basketball with President Obama at the White House!
The story follows Bilqis into adulthood and her heartbreaking decision to walk away from a professional basketball career when the rules once again won’t allow her to wear a hijab. Bilqis becomes an activist, fighting for years on the international stage advocating for young Muslim women, and eventually the rule is overturned. Written in free verse in a voice that captures the cadence of the game, this picture book biography, coauthored by Bilqis and award-winning writer Judith Henderson, is both a love poem to the sport of basketball and an inspiring story about how one person can effect change. Richly colored illustrations by Katherine Ahmed add further emotional depth to the story.
This book will spark discussions about respect, beliefs, values, culture and discrimination. Back matter includes biographical information, photos and a list of sources for further exploration. Lion on the Inside is the first book in the CitizenKid collection that is geared to younger readers ages 5 to 8.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
Mama Wears a Hijab by Fifi Abu Paw Prints
Mama Wears a Hijab
by Fifi Abu
Baker & Taylor/Paw Prints
In this deeply felt and vivid celebration of the muslim headcovering and the modern muslim woman, Arab American author-illustrator, Fifi Abu, creates a love letter from child to mother.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
Fight Back by A.M. Dassu
Fight Back by A.M. Dassu
Lee & Low
Amina’s Voice meets A Good Kind of Trouble in this story about 13-year-old Aaliyah, who feels alone after putting on a hijab for the first time, but finds friends and allies through organizing a protest at her school.
Thirteen-year-old Aaliyah can’t wait for a concert by her favorite K-pop boy band, 3W. She isn’t too concerned with stories on the news about the rise of the far right–after all, it doesn’t affect her–until a terrorist attack at the concert changes everything.
Local racists are emboldened and anti-Muslim rhetoric starts cropping up at school and on the street. When Aaliyah starts getting bullied, she knows she has to do something to stand up to the hate. She decides that, instead of hiding who she is, she will begin wearing a hijab for the first time, to challenge how people in her community see Muslims.
But when her school bans the hijab and she is attacked and intimidated for making her choice, Aaliyah feels alone. Can she find allies–friends to stand beside her and help her find ways to fight back?
Acclaimed author A. M. Dassu’s follow-up to Boy, Everywhere is an essential read to encourage empathy, challenge stereotypes, and foster positive action.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
Hana’s Hundreds of Hijabs by Razeena Omar Gutta
Hana’s Hundreds of Hijabs
by Razeena Omar Gutta
Illustrated by Manal Mirza
Barefoot Books
Hana has a humongous collection of hijabs and accessories – and her hijab is always styled superbly. But when her overflowing collection gets a little out of hand, Hana knows something needs to be done…and comes up with a clever plan for sharing her talents and possessions with her community! Young makers will chuckle along with this humorous tale of creative problem-solving and learning to help others.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
The Kindest Red: A Story of Hijab and Friendship by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S. K. Ali
The Kindest Red: A Story of Hijab and Friendship
by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S. K. Ali
Illustrated by Hatem Aly
Little Brown / Hachette
What kind of world do you want?
Faizah knows just how to answer her teacher’s question: She wants a kind world, as special as her sister’s hijab, a world of friends helping one another. Faizah spends school-picture day finding fun ways to help her classmates. But when picture day takes an unexpected turn, Faizah learns that acts of kindness can come back to you in beautiful ways.
In empowering words and breathtaking illustrations, the award-winning, bestselling team behind The Proudest Blue celebrates the beauty of faith, family, and friendship.
Cover image and summary via Little, Brown
Review: Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrin’s Hijab by Priya Huq
This review was originally published in School Library Journal.
Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrin’s Hijab
by Priya Huq
Abrams. Nov. 2021. 224p. Tr $22.99. ISBN 9781419740169.
Gr 7 Up—In Portland, OR, in 2002, eighth grader Nisrin Moniruzzaman is proud to share her Bangladeshi heritage and cultural dress with her school community during a celebration of world cultures. But on her way home from school with a friend who is Black and Iranian, the girls suffer a violent racist attack, and Nisrin’s orna, a shawl-like scarf, is ripped from her head. In the following months, both girls struggle to heal. After visiting the home of a young cousin who wears a hijab, Nisrin decides to start wearing the headscarf as she begins high school. Her choice challenges her mother and her maternal grandparents, with whom she lives, and makes her a target for Islamophobia at school; it also serves as a catalyst for her to learn more about Islam and her family’s feelings about the religion, their experiences in Bangladesh, and the country’s tumultuous history, including Bangladesh’s relationship with Pakistan (although readers will need to look elsewhere for a nuanced account of conflict in the region). Vivid illustrations capture the characters’ raw feelings and move the narrative along quickly, making it feel slightly rushed at times. “A Guide to Bangladesh” written from the perspective of Nisrin at the end of the novel includes a map of the region and provides additional insight about the country, its people, and the author’s family.
VERDICT A solid addition to collections of all types and a welcome exploration of what it means to navigate the complexities of Muslim identity in the United States.
Reviewed by Mahasin A. Aleem, Oakland Public Library, CA
Piece By Piece: The Story of Nisrin’s Hijab by Priya Huq
Piece By Piece: The Story of Nisrin’s Hijab by Priya Huq
Abrams/Amulet Books
In this middle-grade graphic novel, Nisrin will have to rely on faith, friends, and family to help her recover after she is the target of a hate crime.
Nisrin is a 13-year-old Bangladeshi-American girl living in Milwaukie, Oregon, in 2002. As she nears the end of eighth grade, she gives a presentation for World Culture Day about Bangladesh while wearing a traditional cultural dress. On her way home, she is the victim of a hate crime when a man violently attacks her for wearing a headscarf.
Deeply traumatized by the experience, Nisrin spends the summer depressed and isolated. Other than weekly therapy, Nisrin doesn’t leave the house until fall arrives and it’s time for her to start freshman year at a new school. The night before class starts, Nisrin makes a decision. She tells her family she’s going to start wearing hijab, much to their dismay. Her mother and grandparent’s shocked and angry reactions confuse her—but they only strengthen her resolve.
This choice puts Nisrin on a path to not only discover more about Islam, but also her family’s complicated relationship with the religion, and the reasons they left Bangladesh in the first place. On top of everything else, she’s struggling to fit in at school—her hijab makes her a target for students and faculty alike. But with the help from old friends and new, Nisrin is starting to figure out what really makes her happy. Piece by Piece is an original graphic novel about growing up and choosing your own path, even if it leads you to a different place than you expected.
Cover and summary via Abrams
The Power of Style by Christian Allaire
The Power of Style by Christian Allaire
Annick Press
Style is not just the clothes on our backs—it is self-expression, representation, and transformation.
As a fashion-obsessed Ojibwe teen, Christian Allaire rarely saw anyone that looked like him in the magazines or movies he sought out for inspiration. Now the Fashion and Style Writer for Vogue, he is working to change that—because clothes are never just clothes. Men’s heels are a statement of pride in the face of LGTBQ+ discrimination, while ribbon shirts honor Indigenous ancestors and keep culture alive. Allaire takes the reader through boldly designed chapters to discuss additional topics like cosplay, make up, hijabs, and hair, probing the connections between fashion and history, culture, politics, and social justice.
Cover image and summary via Annick Press
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