The Storybooks of Arab Americans

posted on: Oct 29, 2025

By: Laila Ali / Arab America Contributing Writer

Children’s books have a special way of captivating young readers. They teach them new concepts and transport them to fantasy worlds full of wonder. But they also have another essential purpose: to help kids see themselves in the stories they read. Children’s books are mirrors. And for Arab-American and Muslim-American youth, that mirror was often empty. For decades, few children’s books told the stories of Arab-American or Muslim-American families, traditions, and experiences. Thankfully, that’s now starting to change. In fact, it started one classroom in Michigan with three teenagers and a little girl named Mina. 

A Ramadan Book Written by Three Dearborn Teens

Mina’s Ramadan Adventure is a children’s picture book written by three Dearborn middle school students: Jumana Abbas, Mona Ahmed, and Thao Ho, under the guidance of their teacher, Marla Wiacek. The story follows Mina, a six-year-old girl, who is curious about fasting for Ramadan. After making some mistakes on her first fast, she learns it’s okay to make mistakes, take things step by step, and learn with others.

What began as a leadership exercise in a middle school classroom has now become a published book available on Amazon. For the students, this was a passion project they poured their heart into. They wanted to create a book that Muslim and non-Muslim children could relate to: a story that captures the excitement, questions, and learning that’s such a big part of Ramadan for so many families. As Marla Wiacek explains, the whole idea was simple: there was a gap on the shelf. “There are so many books about Christmas and other holidays,” she says, “But few that help young children understand Ramadan.” 

Representation & Empowerment 

The beauty of Mina’s Ramadan Adventure is not just its message, but its authors. These are not adults writing about childhood, but teenagers writing for children. That makes a world of difference. For Arab-American or Muslim-American youth, seeing other young people not just writing books, but publishing books, matters. 

It says: your stories, your voice, are as important as those around you. It turns the question of representation from “are there books like this?” to “why aren’t we writing more books like this?” It is projects like these that show how authorship can be as much about pride and belonging as it is about storytelling, no matter the reader’s background. When children of all backgrounds see hijabi girls or Arabic names in books, it normalizes Muslim and Arab-American traditions as not just a part of American life, but as a part of their lives. 

The Success of Books Like These 

Mina’s Ramadan Adventure is not a book with representative marketing campaigns. Rather, it’s gaining traction through community visibility and pride. The book was first shared with schools and mosques around Dearborn where teachers, parents, and organizations have embraced it. Authors have been invited to speak at school assemblies and book fairs. The book has since been added to library collections and was purchased for use at schools. 

This kind of success, seen in community readership and not just sales, is one of the most powerful ways local storytelling can still matter. To Dearborn’s youth, it can mean the difference between seeing their friend’s name on a book cover or not. To educators, it means being able to point to resources for teaching about Ramadan and Arab-American culture in authentic ways. 

The book has gained an online audience as well, finding traction in Muslim and Arab-American educator communities on social media, especially during Ramadan. For many families, it was purchased to help explain fasting to younger children and the first book many Muslim children received about Ramadan. Reviews praise its warmth, authenticity, and cultural details, something many books with Muslim characters written by outsiders miss. 

The Growth of Arab-American Children’s Literature 

Across the U.S., Arab-American and Muslim-American children’s books are on the rise. What once was a small, specialized section in library stacks is now becoming part of classrooms, curriculums, and homes across the country, published by community presses and local educators, and increasingly by young authors themselves.

There are several reasons for this growth, one of them being the rise of independent presses dedicated to culturally authentic representation. Small presses, including Ruqaya’s Bookshelf, Prolance, and Daybreak Press, have all prioritized books that feature Arab and Muslim characters and narratives. Picture books about Ramadan, stories in English and Arabic, and books that center Arabic heritage are now filling shelves in schools and homes. These presses also work directly with educators, families, and mosques to connect writers with publishers, and are finding these writers are often teenagers like the students who wrote Mina’s Ramadan Adventure. 

The Roles of Schools & Online Services

Schools and libraries have also been making concerted efforts to include Arab-American books on reading lists and library shelves. Districts with large Arab-American populations, such as Dearborn, Chicago, and Paterson are making the effort to curate book lists with Ramadan and Eid stories, immigration and identity stories, and more. Organizations such as ParentChild+ and We Need Diverse Books have also started to include Arab-American writers in their national recommendations during Arab-American heritage month. This means many children are now seeing their first hijabi character or Ramadan story not at home, but in their school library.

Another factor for this growth is self-publishing. Online self-publishing services like Amazon’s KDP or BookBaby have made it possible for new writers to self-publish. Children’s stories, even ones written by students, can reach readers across the country. Projects that might have ended up as classroom projects are now available to readers. What used to require years of querying agents and publishers is now accessible with creativity and support. Finally, the audience for these books is growing. Arab-American families are now more than ever actively looking for books that represent them with care and accuracy. 

The Changing Faces in Children’s Literature

After decades of being absent from children’s shelves, these parents are now filling their home libraries with books that celebrate Arab-American identity, not explain it. And mainstream publishing has taken note. Books like The Arabic Quilt by Aya Khalil, Lailah’s Lunchbox by Reem Faruqi, and The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad have all been bestsellers in their category. Together, these trends are changing the face of children’s literature in America. Stories of Arab-American families are no longer on the fringes, they are written, illustrated, and read by a new generation ready to see themselves on the page. And for some, those stories begin not in publishing houses but middle-school classrooms where a few young writers realize their stories are worth telling.

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