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Celebrating Muslim Characters – Stories combating Islamophobia

via Ashia
Celebrating Muslim Characters – Stories combating Islamophobia

[Image description: Interior illustration from ‘Under My Hijab’ by Hena Khan & Aaliya Jaleel]

Quick Things You Need To Know:

  • This is an unpolished book list (find more here) for BFL Patreon supporters. I compile our archives into a quick, typo-filled list without lots of details so you can find the books you’ve voted for in the Collaborator Laboratory.
  • Destigmatizing books to help non-Muslim children understand that Muslim kids are worthy of human rights. Because apparently many people don’t understand this. This collection has some of those.
  • We start introducing the concept of religion with the Earthquakes around age 4, and religious persecution shortly after. It’s a long-term, ongoing conversation. We have to read these books regularly, it’s not a once-and-done type of thing.
  • I would really love this list to NOT focus on Muslims as victims. We’re a little unbalanced in trying to counter Islampahobia by depicting Muslims as pathetic victims only, and it’s rather dehumanizing. It also feeds into white supremacy with the victims/savior binary. If you need these kinds of stories, I’ll just send you over here to see the humanizing refugees list
  • Transparency: My name (Ashia) is rooted in the third wife of Muhammad (Aisha). Just to be clear – I’m not Muslim, nor am I any type of expert or have personal experience with Islam. Aisha was a brilliant, thoughtful, and controversial strategist, you should look her up if you want to learn more about Muslim women’s history and her husband’s teachings as an early feminist.
  • We’re an athiest/agnostic family. I was raised by a lapsed-Catholic Buddhist and influenced by my grandmother who practiced Chinese ancestor-worship/Buddhism. My partner was raised progressive-Mormon. Our kids are free to find a faith that resonates with them. My goal is to teach them the human values that connect all faiths, as well as some of the narratives that we might personally disagree with, but need to hold space for as equal to our own.
  • I direct a portion of our monthly patreon & affiliate fundraising toward Karam Foundation, which focuses on supporting Syrian refugees (including, but not limited to Muslim refugee support.)

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Quick & Messy Book List:

Normalizing Muslim Heroes: complex, awesome characters who aren’t solely defined by their faith

Read all of these, they are utterly spectacular.

  • Never Give Up
  • King For A Day
  • Ruler of the Courtyard – Okay these illustrations are HIDEOUS but if you can get past them, the story itself about courage and fear is amazing.
  • Big Red Lollipop – This is often used as a validating book for TCK (third culture kids) of Asian parents, so it goes over the heads of lots of folks with privilege. If you’re not familiar with what it’s like to grow up TCK do some work before you approach this.
  • Silly Chicken (Khan) – Again, another validating book for non-white kids. May need extra scaffolding if you’re not familiar with Asian parents.
  • Iqbal and his ingenious idea (suneby) – This one isn’t as deep and complex as the others, but it’s sweet, and shows a smart and kind boy who uses science to help his family and the environment.

Destigmatizing hijabs/khimars/malafas/veils

  • Under My Hijab – Khan – Not much story, but lovely for a read or two. Bonus points for normalizing multiracial families and showing that Muslims are from many different races. You see a lady being cool with her hijab on, then later, with it off. Repeat.
  • Mommy’s Khimar – glenn -R2 enjoyed this the most at age 4. It’s visually stunning and adorable, but very short.
  • Deep in the Sahara – Cunnane – This was lovely. Pretty but not as visually exciting as the others. Doesn’t have a story, but repetition works for some kids. I like this one best because it goes into the many different reasons why a woman may choose to wear a malafa. This was less engaging for my two sons than ‘Mommy’s Khimar’ since it centers around femininity, but they still enjoyed it. One thing that nags me: the white author brings whiteness into the story where none was needed: the line about her malafa being “as blue as a stranger’s eye” is both unnecessary and implies that trope of seeing whiteness as type of ideal beauty.

Validating books for Muslim Children

Validating books show Muslim kids they are not alone. These might be confusing or off-putting to non-Muslim readers. Not everything has to, nor should it be catered to non-Muslim readers.

  • Yo Soy Muslim – gonzales – A father’s advice/wishes for his multiracial/multifaith daughter. This book is validating for people who are discriminated against for faith, being multi, and needs proper scaffolding for mono-racial and mono-faith families. This shouldn’t be the first book you read to your kids featuring Muslim characters.
  • Lailah’s Lunchbox – I’ve recommended this as a citywide read for our local schools. (We literally have Muslim students hiding to pray under stairwells here, so we’ve got some work to do.) I love this book not just to discuss Ramadan, but to help kids understand what it feels like to be surrounded by people who don’t understand your culture and how uncomfortable that can be.
  • Muslim Child – Khan – This is actually well written and informative, but it’s not particularly engaging, and would be better for older readers (maybe 7+?). Khan did a good job creating characters that readers can empathize with and it destigmatizes the Muslim faith for non-Muslims, it’s just a little dry.
  • Saffron Ice Cream – rashin – CAUTION – THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. This is an autobiographical story by an Iranian-American Muslim author who contrasts how she felt stifled in Iran and found it freeing to live in America where she didn’t have to wear her hijab on the beach. It can be used as a validating story, but it buys into the stereotype that wearing a hijab is not a choice (sure in many places it is not, but it is, for many women, a choice.) Many Muslim readers found this problematic because they are afraid it will stoke anti-Muslim sentiments. But it’s a good reminder that people from marginalized groups are individuals with different perspectives – not monolithic in values and beliefs.

Auto/biographies of Muslim Heroes

  • The Camel in the Sun – Ondaatje – this is utterly beautiful, compassionate, and wonderful. While I can’t find a decent biography on Muhammad himself, in many ways for our purposes, this is much better to give young kids a general sense of the kindness of Muhammad and the compassion he strove to model.
  • Muhammad Ali: A Champion is Born (Baretta) – We’re still searching for a truly amazing book about Ali. This is the best one I’ve found, and a decent starter book, but doesn’t touch on the many things I kind of adore about him, like his role as a disabled activist later in life.
  • Malcolm Little
  • Malala’s Magic Pencil (Yousafzai) – Autobiography, it’s lovely.
  • From Far Away – Askar – Autobiography written by a child of her experience coming to Canada as a refugee. This is wonderful. Get the newer edition (2017) as the illustrations are more engaging.
  • The Librarian of Basra (Winter) – Illustrations are bland, but the story is suspenseful and will hold a kid’s attention for a read or two, particularly for bibiophiles. This isn’t in the book, but it’s worth discussing and researching for educating your kids – the stuff of seeking education and being a life-long learner is particularly valuable in Islam, so books have an extra meaning tied into faith, beyond what they might have for non-Muslims. Ages 4.5+

Muslim #OwnVoices Makers

Healthy friendships & Conflict resolution – Destigmatizing

To counter Islamaphobic intolerant and aggressive stereotypes against Muslims, a slew of books featuring interfaith friendships have popped up, enough stories that they fit into their own category.

  • Yaffa and Fatima shalom, salaam – jedele – This is one of my favorites. It’s simple enough even for young preschoolers and makes the Earthquakes laugh.
  • The Sandwich Swap – this is also a good one for teaching kids not to food-shame
  • The Most Magnificent Mosque -(Fowles) – Three friends – one Muslim, one Jewish, and one Christian, pull together to save a famous mosque. One amazon reviewer got their panties in a bunch because the book isn’t inclusive enough – it doesn’t include Atheists. (EYEROLL.)
  • a moon for moe and mo – zalben – This is kind of boring and redundant, but it’s sweet for a read. Yaffa & Fatima has a similar theme but it’s more engaging.
  • Salam Balalaika -jenkins – I think this is a song by a pop star? As a sing-along it seems okay. As a story it’s kind of bland. Cute illustrations though. Very shallow.
  • Snow in Jerusalem – da costa – Maybe just skip this one. It’s 90’s bland, it’s been criticized for being logistically unrealistic (because of the layout of the city) suggesting the author didn’t do much diligence, and the way they resolve a conflict by casually separate nursing kittens from their mother is a little bit horrifying.

Ramadan

Ramadan usually happens around May. Normally I don’t push people to learn about holidays they don’t celebrate (no one is going to lose an eye if you don’t know it’s the lunar new year ) BUT you should know about Ramadan because since many older kids and adults fast all month. So teachers in particular – keep that in mind, go easy on fasting students, find them a pleasant place to hang out during lunch time, and avoid eating a bag of oreos in front of them during daylight hours.

  • Ramadan (Eliot) – This is a really cute series of board books for toddlers and preschoolers, and it’s well done. Eliot made sure to consult with #Ownvoices and hire #Ownvoices illustrators for each one. Very cute, lots of joy, simple enough for very littles. “We fast because we know that there are many people who are less fortunate than us. We appreciate how lucky we are.”
  • Ramadan Moon (Robert, Adl) – We went through a lot of books with various titles including the word ‘moon’ so it’s easy to get these mixed up. This was the most clear and easy to understand, and gives not just the practices during Ramadan, but the reason behind them. It’s lovely, and both Earthquakes actively wanted to participate in Ramadan after reading it. (We discussed cultural appropriation afterward.) Don’t confuse this with ‘Under the Ramadan Moon‘ which is fine, but forgettable.
  • Lailah’s Lunchbox (again)

Refugees

  • I would really love this list to NOT focus on Muslims as victims. We’re a little unbalanced in trying to counter Islampahobia by depicting Muslims as pathetic victims only, and it’s rather dehumanizing. It also feeds into white supremacy with the victims/savior binary. If you need these kinds of stories, I’ll just send you over here to see the humanizing refugees list

Meh.

I’m just gonna put these here to get the out of the way.

  • Nasreen’s Secret School (winter) – Boring, and covers the same issues as Malala’s stories, except this isn’t as well done.
  • What Do We Say – Abdullah – Wanted to like this, with common salutations and meanings behind it, but it was so didactic and boring we just couldn’t sit still through it.
  • Malala / Iqbal – Bland, not anywhere near as good as half of the Malala books I’ve found, and the fact that it includes Iqbal doesn’t make it worth the meh writing and meh-er illustrations. Including it here since I can’t find any biographies on Iqbal alone.
  • my mum is a wonder – While many Muslim women are traditional in staying at home and conforming to gender binaries, many are not. So I worry this reinforces stereotypes more than destigmatizes Muslim families and feeds into the dominant narrative of Muslim families without countering it. BUT I keep it in my list as a reminder that others have different values, and they are equally as valid as mine – plus the character’s mother is portrayed with a sense of power – her status is respected and her contribution is of equal to a father’s contributions (a nice break from the way euro-centric culture devalues domestic & childcare work.) In this particular book, it reinforces the idea that all Muslim mothers stay at home, cook, clean, and care for children, and that is their role, as defined and ordained by their gender.
  • A kid’s guide to arab american history – dennis – I will never in a billion years have my shit together to do these activities with my kids, but they seem like a good resource for educators. This is also one of the only books in this series that is written by #OwnVoices authors and has a lot of information in it that cleared up misconceptions about the diversity of Arab Americans in terms of faith, language, heritage, and culture. Some of the other books in this series are gross though, so stick with this one.
  • Four Feet, Two Sandals – Williams – The ending is just unpragmatic and clearly written by a rich person, the illustrations are dusty and bland, and of course they’re just refugees in poverty and don’t have much personality or ways to connect beyond shared hardship. I’m mostly adding this here because white ladies are always suggesting I add it to lists.
  • Time To Pray and White Nights of Ramadan – Addasi  – This is well written, and nice, but it’s just so…00’s second-wave-multiculturalism. Very slow, bland, and clearly made to educate non-Muslim readers in a way that distances us from the protagonist rather that gets us to identify with them. They’re fine, it’s just designed for an adult gaze and that makes it boring. If the books had action or engaging illustrations it’d be enough, but they just don’t. I’ve had to re-read these several times because I keep forgetting the plot as soon as I close the book.
  • Moondragon in the Mosque Garden (Khaki) – Got a digital review copy for free from the publisher. I love that this is LGBTQ+ inclusive and the theme about personal responsibility and environmentalism is great, but oh gosh, it’s terrible. Not problematic, just sloppily executed – the kind that makes me wonder if the makers actually know any children or bothered to consult with any before going to print. The writing is confusing, the illustrations are confusing, the plot is confusing. I want the gay dads and celebration on Eid al-Fitr to make up for it, but they really don’t.
  • Crescent Moons & Pointed Minarets  and golden domes & silver lanterns (Khan) – I know this is the standard go-to series for destigmatizing Muslim characters but can I be honest? This entire series is SO FREAKING BORING. There really isn’t a story to validate any of the experience of Muslim children (other than the visuals), and there isn’t anything to connect non-Muslim readers with the humanity of Muslims. It’s just shape and color books – but the illustrations are too cluttered for younger toddlers and it’s not in board book form – so by the time kids are ready to read it, they already know about shapes and colors. I want so bad to love these, I keep re-reading them, but they are painfully boring and the kids resent it. They’re so forgettable I can’t even tell them apart. Pretty tho.

Problematic

  • See various books in the problematic section of our humanizing refugees list
  • Racism & Intolerance (Spilsbury) – illustrations depict a Muslim girl not letting a white girl play jump rope, and another scene where Muslims & East Asians get into a fight until a white savior comes to break it up. Seriously.
  • Me & Dog – Shows dog stretching on a prayer rug as the dog ignorant because he supposedly sees his human as a god: “He just sits around all day worships me.” Equating people of faith as being on the intellectual level of dogs is kind if a shitty, intolerant thing to do and makes all us atheists look like assholes. Stop.
  • The Man With the Red Bag (Bunting) – Main character obsesses over a Muslim man carrying a red bag and assumes he’s a terrorist. The man shrugs it off as if that’s not a horrifyingly offensive and dangerous assumption. They make friends at the end because of course.
  • Razia’s Ray of Hope (Suneby) – this was bland, ugly, and boring, plus I vaguely remember a Muslim reviewer taking issue with it (but I can’t find the review anymore). Everyone looks like a zombie. It’s distracting and unsettling.
  • The Wooden Sword (Stampler) – Muslim character is aggressively annoying and lacks empathy in torturing a Jewish man.
  • Mustafa – white saviorism, stereotypes about muslim countries as violent and war torn
  • You Can Control your voice – loud or quiet? you choose the ending – miller – Author is white. Each book in the series uses an adorable child from a different race, but there are no cultural context issues or illustrations, so it feels a little tokenizing. In this particular book, featuring a brown-skinned Muslim girl in a book about voice and impulse control…I really feel like the author didn’t think this through and what kind of (loud, aggressive) stereotypes Muslim girls of color already have to deal with.
  • Muhammad (Demi) – I don’t like this, but haven’t been able to find any engaging biographies about the prophet himself. It feels like a cheat to portray Muhammad as a gold silhouette and it feels disrespectful and like she completely missed the point of why we don’t illustrate Muhammad. It’s also boring. Lots of name dropping and dates. The more I read Demi, the more I grow to despise her. Oh also she gets some stuff wrong (she’s not a stickler for details)
  • Yuri Kochiyama was an Asian-American Muslim activist. Problematic: She claimed to admire Bin Laden. YIKES. Shit like this is why we can never have good Asian Activist Feminist heroes. There are no books about her, and probably won’t ever be based on that quip. Ugh. Mostly I’m just adding this note so I don’t forget.
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