Tag: hijab

Any Way You Look by Maleeha Siddiqui

Any Way You Look
by Maleeha Siddiqui
Scholastic Press/Scholastic Trade Publishing

What do you do with the wrong kind of attention?

Dress Coded meets Amina’s Voice in this new middle grade novel by Maleeha Siddiqui.

Ainy is excited for summer! She plans on working at her mom’s clothing store, having adventures with her best friend, and maybe even starting to wear the hijab–just like her big sister.

Everything changes when a boy from her community starts messaging her and following her around, even showing up at the store while she’s working! Ainy knows his behavior isn’t okay, but she can’t find the words to tell the people around her how the unwanted attention makes her uncomfortable.

Finally, Ainy decides that she needs to start wearing the hijab to get him to leave her alone. She’s always used fashion to express herself, so maybe now she can use it to become invisible.

But things don’t get any better–and Ainy starts to realize that she’s lost her own sparkle along the way. Maybe she can’t handle this all on her own. With the help of her best friend and her sister, Ainy must find a way to stand her ground and get the respect that she knows she deserves–no matter how she looks.

Cover image and summary via Edelweiss

Noor Needs to Know! by Farhana Islam; Illustrated by Nabila Adani

Noor Needs to Know!
by Farhana Islam; Illustrated by Nabila Adani
Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

A precocious girl makes it her mission to find out why the women in her family wear hijabs in this heartwarming yet funny picture book celebrating Muslim women, curious children, and family love.

Noor loves her mum and all the other hijabi women in her family but wonders why they wear headscarves. Is it to hide snacks for later? Or because they’re super spies hiding their secret identities?

Full of curiosity, Noor sets out to find her answer, but her family are all busy and have no time to answer this important question. Just as Noor is ready to give up on her quest, her Ammu arrives home and knows just the thing to say to crack the case wide open.

Cover image and summary via Edelweiss

We Are Big Time by Hena Khan; illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui

We Are Big Time
by Hena Khan; illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui
Knopf/Penguin Random House

Cover image and summary via Penguin Random House

Mama Wears a Hijab by Fifi Abu

Mama Wears a Hijab
by Fifi Abu
Paw Prints/Baker & Taylor Publisher Services

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

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

Illustration of Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir in a colorful striped hijab holding a basketball on a basketball court.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