Middle East Book Awards

No one ignores the grand vizier. The most important advisor in the royal court, he was considered the wisest man in the kingdom. He was also Samuel's father. "Make sure Hamza never says a mean word to you again," he had ordered Samuel. What should Samuel...

"There's an Ethiopian; there's an Ethiopian!" I heard them shouting. I looked behind me, but I couldn't see any Ethiopian. Children began crowding round me, and I still didn't realize that they meant me, I was the Ethiopian. Meskerem was born in a...

The house next door to Sameer's had been empty for as long as he could remember. The family had gone away when the war began. But now they were back, and he was ready to have fun with his new playmate. Together they could climb the big olive tree that...

Winner of the Cybils Award for Poetry Novel, Diana Farid's Wave is a coming-of-age novel in verse set in 1980s Southern California, about a Persian American girl who rides the waves, falls, and finds her way back to the shore, illustrated by Kris Goto...

In the Remixed Classics series, authors from marginalized backgrounds reinterpret classic works through their own cultural lens to subvert the overwhelming cishet, white, and male canon. This thrilling female-led Robin Hood remix reframes the legend's...

The Blue Butterfly of Cochin is the story of the ancient Jewish Indian community's mass immigration to Israel in the 1950s. We follow Leah as she struggles to come to terms with leaving her beloved India and moving to the newly-formed country of Israel...

On a secluded island, in a faraway sea, the animals live in peace and prosperity. But one day, the winds of fate bring humans to their shore. Down come trees and up go houses, farms, and a bustling market. The humans capture the animals and put them to...

Ida, a Palestinian-American girl, eats a magic olive that takes her to the life she might have had in her parents' village near Jerusalem. An important coming of age story that explores identity, place, voice, and belonging. Every time violence erupts in...

Razia is excited when her grandfather tells her there's a school for girls being built in their Afghan village. At last, girls will have the same opportunity to be educated as boys. "Every night I fell asleep dreaming about going to school like my...

Young readers can learn about Eid, a religious holiday celebrated by Muslim families every year, as well as the Hajj pilgrimage, when Muslims travel back to Mecca for the Eid, in this picture book about Muslim culture and traditions written by Dr. Asma...

After a major invasion of the Gaza Strip in late 2008, twenty-year-old Mahmoud Barghout decided to become a zookeeper. He saw that the children around him were exhausted by war, and so to provide respite, he set up the Happy Land Zoo. But the war made...

Timeless wisdom is found in absurdity in these tales of an iconic Muslim character known as the sagest man in the village -- and also its biggest fool. Would you like to know how a thief can turn into a donkey? Whether a cow can climb a pole? Or why you...

Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets - Islamic book for kids"A beautiful picture book that simultaneously explores shapes, Islam, and the cultures of the Muslim people." - Kirkus ReviewsToddler book of shapes and Islamic traditions: From a crescent moon...

Christianity Today Book Award in Young Adults (2025) Foreword Reviews INDIES Book of the Year Award in Juvenile Nonfiction Gold Winner (2023) The thrilling true story of an ancient plant, wonderfully reborn in the modern era through the hard work of two...

An award-winning novel about identity, family, and friendship from renowned writer and editor Naomi Shihab Nye. The day after Liyana got her first real kiss, her life changed forever. Not because of the kiss, but because it was the day her father...

From Althea Gibson author Megan Reid and rising star artist Aaliya Jaleel, illustrator of Under My Hijab, comes the first picture book about trailblazing mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the world's most prestigious honor in...

A story about facing your fears and accepting differences, inspired by Arabic folk tales. The villagers are afraid of the "Ghoul." For years, they've tiptoed around the village for fear of disturbing it. The monster doesn't look like them, and it is...

A story about facing your fears and accepting differences, inspired by Arabic folk tales. The villagers are afraid of the "Ghoul." For years, they've tiptoed around the village for fear of disturbing it. The monster doesn't look like them, and it is...

Saints and Misfits--a William C. Morris Award finalist and an Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of the Year--is a "timely and authentic" (School Library Journal, starred review) debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life...starring a...

A William C. Morris Award Finalist An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 Saints and Misfits is a "timely and authentic" (School Library Journal, starred review) debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life...starring a Muslim teen...

A Little Piece Of Ground will help young readers understand more about one of the worst conflicts afflicting our world today.Written by Elizabeth Laird, one of Great Britain's best-known young adult authors, A Little Piece Of Ground explores the human...

It isn't that Abby Carson can't do her schoolwork. She just doesn't like doing it. And in February a warning letter arrives at her home. Abby will have to repeat sixth grade--unless she meets some specific conditions, including taking on an extra-credit...

Upon learning that the books with kids who look like her have been banned by her school district, Kanzi descends into fear and helplessness. But her classmates support her, and together--with their teacher's help--they hatch a plan to hold a bake sale...

Praised by the Horn Book as "both quiet and exhilarating," this novel by the acclaimed poet and National Book Award Finalist Naomi Shihab Nye follows Aref Al-Amri as he says goodbye to everything and everyone he loves in his hometown of Muscat, Oman, as...

Praised by the Horn Book as "both quiet and exhilarating," this novel by the acclaimed poet and National Book Award Finalist Naomi Shihab Nye follows Aref Al-Amri as he says goodbye to everything and everyone he loves in his hometown of Muscat, Oman, as...

A picture book celebrating Persian New Year by award-winning author Adib Khorram Kian can't wait for Persian New Year! His family has already made a haft-seen, and Kian's baba and maman told him that all the things on it start with S and will bring them...

Winner of the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award, Mystery Bottle is a delightful picture book about a boy in Brooklyn and his grandfather in Iran that shows us that love has no borders. A boy in Brooklyn receives a package from Iran. When he opens up...

Razia is excited when her grandfather tells her there's a school for girls being built in their Afghan village. At last, girls will have the same opportunity to be educated as boys. "Every night I fell asleep dreaming about going to school like my...

Winner of the Middle East Book Award, Youth Fiction category Jameela lives with her mother and father in Afghanistan. Despite the fact that there is no school in their poor, war-torn village, and Jameela lives with a birth defect that has left her with a...

"When a war ends it does not go away," my mother says."It hides inside us . . . Just forget!" But I do not want to do what Mother says . . . I want to remember. In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War,...

A powerful and heartwarming story for children about displacement from Turkey's most prolific children's book author. A 2024 Middle East Book Award Winner This is the story of two parallel journeys in cities far apart. A mother and a son leave their home...

From a celebrated documentary artist, twelve portraits from the front lines of migration form an intimate record of why people leave behind the places they call home. It is an unusual feeling to walk into a place that everyone is leaving . . . Resisting...

The inspiring true story of demonstrators standing up for the love of a library, from a New York Times bestselling illustrator In January 2011, in a moment that captured the hearts of people all over the world, thousands of Egypt's students, library...

The inspiring story of an Iraqi librarian's courageous fight to save books from the Basra Central Library before it was destroyed in the war.It is 2003 and Alia Muhammad Baker, the chief librarian of the Central Library in Basra, Iraq, has grown worried...

New York Times bestseller and Newbery Honor Book!A gorgeously written, hopeful middle grade novel in verse about a young girl who must leave Syria to move to the United States, perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Aisha Saeed.Jude never thought she'd...

From award-winning Palestinian author Ibtisam Barakat comes a touching account of coming of age against a backdrop of political turmoil in the Middle East. Picking up where Ibtisam Barakat's first memoir, Tasting the Sky, left off, Balcony on the Moon...

In her coming-of-age memoir, refugee advocate Luma Mufleh writes of her tumultuous journey to reconcile her identity as a gay Muslim woman and a proud Arab-turned-American refugee. Now in paperback. With no word for "gay" in Arabic, Luma may not have...

In her coming-of-age memoir, refugee advocate Luma Mufleh writes of her tumultuous journey to reconcile her identity as a gay Muslim woman and a proud Arab-turned-American refugee. With no word for "gay" in Arabic, Luma may not have known what to call...

Young readers can learn about Eid, a religious holiday celebrated by Muslim families every year, as well as the Hajj pilgrimage, when Muslims travel back to Mecca for the Eid, in this picture book about Muslim culture and traditions written by Dr. Asma...