The books listed are a sampling of the titles available. Ask your Children's Librarian for further suggestions and tell us which are your favorites.
Find out about the life, history, customs and future of these nomadic people.
Also: The Kurds of Asia (LoBaido). In the First Peoples series.
Photo essay about the daily lives of children from a variety of locales and backgrounds. Also: Children of Egypt (Pitkanen). In The World’s Children series.
Includes recipes for lunch, appetizers, dinner, and holiday and festival foods.
Also: Cooking the Israeli Way (Bacon); Cooking the Middle Eastern Way (Behnke); Cooking the Turkish Way (Cornell). In the Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbook series. First edition: j641 Amar.
The ten most popular celebrations and their origins – Islamic, Christian, and Ancient Egyptian – are described.
Meet 7-year-old Boushra and experience with her a typical day in Cairo. In the A Child’s Day series.
Discusses the history, geography, and peoples of Iraq. Also: Bahrain (Cooper); Egypt (Pateman); Iran (Rajendra); Israel (DuBois); Kuwait (O’Shea); Saudi Arabia (Janin); Turkey (Sheehan). In the Cultures of the World series.
A thoughtful exploration of the history, significance and observations of thirteen Jewish holidays and festivals.
In a fictional framework, Macaulay details the design, construction, and uses of a 16th century mosque and its adjoining buildings.
Also: A 16th Century Mosque (Macdonald)
Sixteen countries and the Occupied Territories and six major cities are presented in maps, with additional historical maps and timeline. Also in Adult collection.
In vivid words and art, Kuwaiti young people express their feelings about life and their country. Text in English and Arabic.
Artlcles about many aspects of Palestinian life in the May 2003 issue of the magazine, Faces: People, Places and Cultures.
Building on the knowledge of ancient civilizations, Muslim scholars made advances in math, astronomy, geography and medicine.
Twenty young people from 8 to 18 speak of their daily lives and what it’s like to live in the midst of violent conflict.
A young Moroccan scholar journeyed across the known world all the way to China and back.
Balanced, straightforward questions and answer presentation of the complexities in the Middle East by a Time Magazine reporter.
Judaism is introduced through its sacred sites. Also: Mecca: And Other Islamic Holy Places. In the Holy Places series.
Enlightening introduction to the varied experiences of Islamic women in the Middle East and North Africa.
The military and political life of the current president of Egypt, focusing on recent history and on future challenges.
Alia Muhammad Baker struggles to save the books in the Basra Central Library during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Also: Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq (Stamaty).
Chronicles the life of the revered prophet and the spread of Islam after his death. For younger readers: Muhammad (Demi).
Insight into three men with the same life mission: to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.
A picture biography of the noted Islamic/Sufi poet and his work.
The life of the compassionate 12th century Kurd who united Muslim forces to liberate Jerusalem from the Crusaders, recounted in picture book format. Also: Cleopatra.
A heartfelt wish for peace permeates these 60 poems. Also in the Teen collection.
Brief, fable-like tales show proud, wise, clever, and foolish animals.
A robust retelling of the world’s oldest written story about an oppressive Mesopotamian king who goes in search of immortality after his best friend dies.
A mistreated Iraqi girl is repaid with a bright future by the magical red fish whose life she saved. (Also: The Persian Cinderella (Climo); The Egyptian Cinderella (Climo).
Eleven Jewish tales centered on the city of Jerusalem and enhanced with historical notes.
Each princess tells Shah Bahram a tale of love and virtue in this collection based on an epic poem by Nizami, a 12th century Persian poet.
Two of the seven voyages of the famous sailor are brought to life with dramatic illustrations. Also: Gilgamesh the King and its sequels.
Poets and artists from 20 countries speak of childhood, family, daily life and the natural world in their homelands. Also, an abridged paperback version: The Flag of Childhood. Also in the Teen collection.
Eighteen tales about the wisdom and the foolishness of the Turkish fold hero Nasreddin Hoca. For younger readers: The Hungry Coat (Demi).
A white-haired baby, banished by his father, is saved and raised by a magical bird. Told in English and Persian.
Set in contemporary Turkey, a 12-year-old boy moves with his family from a village farm in Ankara where life is even more difficult.
A Bedouin boy, forced to study in the city, must return home to rescue his cousin from a forced marriage. The year is 1302, and they have been betrothed since birth. Also in Teen.
An old, stray dog is cared for by several people in Haifa – you and old, Arab and Jew. For a Jewish girl, the dog becomes a symbol of memory, love, and hope in strife-torn Israel.
Adjustment is difficult for a 14-year-old Arab American girl who moves with her family to Jerusalem, especially when she begins a close friendship with an Israeli boy. Also in Teen.
An extraordinary Islamic library in 9th century Baghdad is seen through the eyes of a scholar’s son.
When secret police come looking for her father during the Iran-Iraq war of 1984-85, a Kurdish girl and her family flee Iraq and become refugees in Iran.
Because of their love of running, an Israeli girl and a Palestinian girl maintain a friendship despite the odds.
A Lebanese boy and his family struggle to maintain a normal life in their uncle’s basement in civil war-torn Beirut.
An unlikely friendship develops between a Palestinian boy and an Israeli boy when they have adjoining beds in a Jewish hospital.
With her father’s support, a venturesome middle daughter goes out into the world. Disguised as a man she secures a good future for herself and her sisters. Based on an 11th century Iraqi tale from the oral tradition.
In ancient Persia, a 13-year-old lame servant girl must join the Sultan’s harem in order to find stories for Shahrazad.
A Palestinian girl, living under Israeli military occupation in 1988, worries about her missing father and her brother who wants to join the Islamic Jihad.
Letters and related words are presented in the context of a family’s everyday activities.
On a trek across the Sahara to market, a young boy and his camel become lost during a dust storm.
To help his father, a boy living in Cairo delivers bottles of water all day long. He can’t wait to share a special secret with his family that night.
Rewarded with a gold coin for his work, a simple shepherd buys a verse that provides life-saving advice in this story based on an Arabian folktale.
Introduction to all 28 letters – their names and how they are written.
An idealistic poem in Hebrew, Arabic and English explores the meanings of peace.
A young American girl recalls a visit to her Arabic-speaking grandmother who lives far away in a Palestinian village. Similar to The Stars in The Stares in my Geddoh’s Sky (Matze), in which a boy’s Middle Eastern grandfather visits the U. S.
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