Category Archives: Arab American
Time to Pray by Maha Addasi, Arabic translation by Nuha Albitar, illustrated by Ned Gannon
After reading (and being bothered, aggravated, and ultimately haunted by the unlikely-to-ever-be-forgotten Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali), I seem to be in search of sweeter literary anecdotes about the Muslim experience.
As she did in her debut, The White Nights of Ramadan, Kuwaiti-born author Maha Addasi lovingly celebrates her Muslim heritage in her upcoming (publication date scheduled for September) picture book, Time to Pray. Laid out with a simultaneous bilingual translation (in English and Arab), Addasi’s latest story captures a young girl’s visit to her grandmother, somewhere in an unnamed Middle Eastern city.
Although Yasmin is sometimes too tired – and still too young – to heed the first of five calls to prayer expected of practicing Muslims, she lovingly watches her grandmother make her prayerful preparations even as she drifts back to sleep. “‘With practice,’” her grandmother patiently assures Yasmin, “‘you’ll be able to rise early.”
As the two go through their day together, Yasmin helps her grandmother pick out materials for “special prayer clothes.” Yasmin quietly observes her grandmother, learning to practice their faith. With her new handmade prayer clothes and prayer mat, she happily joins her grandmother at the mosque. Each day brings more practice: “I especially like the fourth prayer at sunset,” Yasmin says. “The sky always had swirls of red, even when there were no clouds.”
When Yasmin returns home to her waiting family, she is surprised to discover a miniature mosque her grandmother has secretly packed for her. It proves to be a special prayer clock, reminding Yasmin of both her faith and her loving grandmother. “I don’t always pray all five prayers. I’m still practicing,” she confesses. “Sometimes when the prayer clock rings before dawn, I turn over and go back to sleep. But don’t tell Teta [Grandmother]!”
Yasmin is a modern all-American girl, wears jeans and t-shirts in addition to the more traditional salwar kameez, is reminded of her grandmother passing the cinnamon bun store at the mall, travels the world, and is able to laugh at herself when she misses a prayer or two or more … and clearly, as the book depicts, she is also a devout Muslim, being raised by Muslim parents, taking part in her grandmother’s faraway Muslim life. Yasmin’s story certainly is a welcome anecdote to the injustice, horrors, pain, and destruction faced by the Muslim women of Hirsi Ali’s world … hopefully Yasmin’s well-balanced American/Middle Eastern, modern/traditional, happy beginnings will be neverending.
Readers: Children
Published: 2010 Continue reading
Filed under ..Children/Picture Books, .Fiction, Arab American, Middle Eastern
Arab in America by Toufic El Rassi
If the observations, memories, and pop culture references here weren’t so obviously recognizable in our post-9/11 western world, you might have read this graphic memoir as a hack comedy. The black-and-white panels initially seem almost unfinished, as if still in rough-draft mode. The contents might easily be construed as just plain ridiculous: an email reminder sent by a frightened sister to shave on 9/11, a 13-year-old being investigated by the FBI because of a nervous neighbor, learning that “camel jockey” does not mean a horse jockey on a camel even while being called every wrong racist name, wearing a shirt with a Mexican flag to “play it safe at the airport.” Is this what really happens in the good ‘ol US of A?
Welcome to the world of Toufic El Rassi, born in Beirut to an Egyptian mother and a Lebanese father, raised in the U.S. from age one. Even after decades of living an American life, calling El Rassi himself ‘American’ (in spite of his U.S. passport!) seems unfairly far-fetched.
He discovers his brown skin in 8th grade, the same year his beard grows in: “Imagine my shock upon discovering that, in sharp contrast to the angelic white faces arrayed in the chorus, the dark splotch on the grainy tape was me!”
From The Bangles’ dismissable “Walk Like an Egyptian” to The Cure’s more threatening “Killing an Arab,” El Rassi’s childhood soundtrack is filled with guilt. “I felt like I should hide or apologize for something … like I did something wrong and should be ashamed.” Classmates and neighbors harass him in his youth, and as he gets older, his attackers age right along with him.
The ignorance El Rassi encounters is appalling at the very least, but no less life-threatening as “the average American couldn’t distinguish Arabs & Muslims from other nationalities & faiths.” From Rudolph Valentino to Hollywood’s current portrayals, anti-Arab images pervade the big and little screens with racist depictions, continuing to fuel misconceptions of the Arab American identity.
El Rassi attempts to educate the public: “Since there is so much confusion and ignorance it may be useful to explain what an Arab actually is.” From history to semantics to pronunciation lessons, El Rassi places current world events into a less biased context. His battle is still ongoing … because being Arab in a “you’re either with us or with the terrorists”-America remains a contemporary challenge.
In spite of his English-as-a-primary-language existence, El Rassi never stops having to answer, “Do you speak English?” Nope, not with that bearded face! English-speakers of all backgrounds would do well to read this graphic memoir … and someday (soon), perhaps El Rassi’s experiences truly will fall into the realm of the ridiculous rather than the reality he (and too many others like him) face every day.
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2007 Continue reading
The White Nights of Ramadan by Maha Addasi, illustrated by Ned Gannon
A Muslim family prepares for the fasting holiday of the month of Ramadan. Noor and her two brothers especially look forward to Girgian, a three-day festival that marks the half-way point of the holy month. Because the festival includes the night of a full moon, it’s also called the three ‘white nights,’ a time when children don traditional clothing and visit from neighbor to neighbor in search of special treats. Most importantly, they celebrate the bonds of family and remember to share with those less fortunate.
Review: “TBR’s Editors’ Favorites of 2008,” The Bloomsbury Review, November/December 2008
Readers: Children
Published: 2008 Continue reading
Filed under ..Children/Picture Books, .Fiction, Arab American
West of the Jordan: A Novel by Laila Halaby
A poetic first novel with some amazing images (“ … try to remember the wisdoms you unpacked that life scattered around your living room,” the author’s prologue begins) by an Arab American about four cousins, living different lives in the West Bank, in Jordan, and in the United States, trying to navigate cultures, expectations, and their own dreams.
Review: “New and Notable Books,” AsianWeek, August 1, 2003
Readers: Adult
Published: 2003 Continue reading
Filed under ..Adult Readers, .Fiction, Arab American, Jordanian, Middle Eastern, Palestinian
Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber
A toothsome tale set in L.A.’s richly diverse Arab American community, interspersing a love story about a hapa-Iraqi American chef who falls in love with
an exiled Iraqi professor. What a major relief to read something about Baghdad, Iraq, and the Iraqi community without Dubya, Cheney, or Rumsfeld mentioned anywhere. Okay, so Saddam can’t be avoided and there are references to post-Persian Gulf American missiles, but overall, it’s a bit of Like Water for Chocolate and My Big Fat Greek Wedding mixed together with a much-needed lesson in basic humanity.
Review: “New and Notable Books,” AsianWeek, April 25, 2003
Readers: Adult
Published: 2003 Continue reading
Filed under ..Adult Readers, .Fiction, Arab American, Iraqi American
Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land edited by Wesley Brown and Amy Ling
A multicultural anthology of 37 short stories about immigration to and migration within the U.S., the so-called “Promised Land.” Contributing writers are of varied ethnic backgrounds, including Asian, African, Latino, Native American, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and European; together, they are a representative microcosm of the vast diversity and richness that is America.
Review: “Asian American Titles,” What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature, Gale Research, 1997
Readers: Adult
Published: 1991 Continue reading
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