Middle Eastern Fiction
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Anahita's Woven Riddle In Iran, more than 100 years ago, a young girl with three suitors gets permission from her father and a holy man to weave into her wedding rug a riddle to be solved by her future husband, which will ensure that he has wit to match hers. subjects: Marriage, Afshar (Turkic People), Muslims, Marriage, Sex Role, Weaving, Nomads, Iran History - Qajar Dynasty |
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Borderline Despite the strained relationship between them, teenaged Sami Sabiri risks his life to uncover the truth when his father is implicated in a terrorist plot. subjects: Fathers and Sons, Identity, Prejudices, Muslims, Terrorism, Iranian Americans |
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A Bottle in the Gaza Sea Seventeen-year-old Tal Levine of Jerusalem, despondent over the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, puts her hopes for peace in a bottle and asks her brother, a military nurse in the Gaza Strip, to toss it into the sea, leading ultimately to friendship and understanding between her and an "enemy." subjects: Arab-Israeli Conflict, Toleration, Letters, Israel, Gaza Strip |
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Dawn and Dusk As thirteen-year-old Azad tries desperately to cling to the life he has known, the political situation in Iran during the war with Iraq finally forces his family to flee their home and seek safety elsewhere. subjects: Iran-Iraq War, Family Life |
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Does My Head Look Big in This? Year Eleven at an exclusive prep school in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith--without losing her identity or sense of style. subjects: Hijab (Islamic Clothing), Muslims, High Schools, Islam, Australia, Clothing and Dress |
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Figs and Fate: Stories About Growing Up in the Arab World A collection of five stories portraying Arab life in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, and Iraq today. subjects: Conduct of Life, Coming of Age, Short Stories, Arab Countries, Middle East |
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In the Name of God Determined to follow the laws set down in the Qur'an, seventeen-year-old Nadia becomes involved in a violent revolutionary movement aimed at supporting Muslim rule in Syria and opposing the Western politics and materialism that increasingly affect her family. subjects: Muslims, Family Life, Syria, Islamic Fundamentalism |
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Kiss the Dust Her father’s involvement with the Kurdish resistance movement in Iraq forces thirteen-year-old Tara to flee with her family over the border into Iran, where they face an unknown future. subjects: Kurds, Refugees, Iraq, Iran |
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Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood This isn’t actually fiction, but an autobiography of an Iranian childhood during a turbulent period told as a Graphic Novel. You won’t want to miss this one. Sequel: Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return. subjects: Satrapi, Marjane-1969, Graphic Novels |
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Real Time: A Novel Sixteen-year-old Tomas Wanninger persuades his mother to let him leave Germany to volunteer at a kibbutz in Israel, where he experiences a violent political attack and finds answers about his own past. awards: Sydney Taylor Book Awards: 2004 subjects: Germans-Israel, Terrorism, Interpersonal Relations, Family, Israel |
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A Stone in My Hand Eleven-year-old Malaak and her family are touched by violence in Gaza between Jews and Palestinians when first her father disappears and then her older brother is drawn to the Islamic Jihad. subjects: Muslims, Family Life, Jewish-Arab Relations, Gaza Strip |
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Ten Things I Hate About Me Lebanese-Australian Jamilah, known in school as Jamie, hides her heritage from her classmates and tries to pass by dyeing her hair blonde and wearing blue-tinted contact lenses, until her conflicted feelings become too much for her to bear. subjects: Identity (Philosophical Concept), Self-Acceptance, Prejudices, High Schools, Lebanese-Australia, Identity, Australia |
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Under the Persimmon Tree During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmal, a young refugee from Kunduz, Afghanistan, and Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her husband's return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan. subjects: Afghan War, Refugees, Peshawar (Pakistan) |
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The Weight of the Sky A sixteen-year-old girl travels to Israel to spend the summer on a kibbutz and discovers who she is and what she wants out of life. subjects: Jews - United States, Coming of Age, Kibbutzim, Israel |
List updated May 2010—Patti Cook
