STO: Arab American Heritage Month

"Determined to reunite with his family, Alpha sets off from his home in Cote d'Ivoire, bound for Paris, where his sister-in-law has a hair salon near the Gare du Nord train station. Alpha's wife and son left for France months ago, traveling without visas, and he has heard nothing from them since. With a visa, Alpha's journey would take a matter of hours. Without one, he is adrift for over a year, encountering human traffickers in the desert, refugee...

"A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home The Nasr family is spread across the globe--Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they've always had their ancestral home in Beirut--a constant touchstone--and the complicated,...

Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America.
“Masood’s novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of contemporary Muslim America: the way historical conflict in the Middle East lingers in individual lives, the way gossip travels in a close-knit immigrant...

"From Ty McCormick, winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, an epic and timeless story of a family in search of safety, security, and a place to call home. When Asad Hussein was growing up in the world's largest refugee camp, nearly every aspect of life revolved around getting to America-a distant land where anything was possible. Thousands of displaced families like his were whisked away to the United States in the mid-2000s, leaving the...

This is a memoir about living, loving, dreaming, daring, and driving while female -- in a country where it's dangerous to do all of the above. Manal al-Sharif grew up in Mecca the second daughter of a taxi driver, born the year strict fundamentalism took hold. In her adolescence, she was religious radical, melting her brother's boy band CDs in the oven because music was haram: forbidden by Islamic law. But what a difference an education can make....

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.

Follows Viola as she survives brutality in war-torn Sudan, makes a perilous journey, lives as a refugee in Egypt, and finally reaches Portland, Maine, where her quest for freedom and security is hampered by memories of past horrors and the traditions her mother and other Sudanese adults hold dear. Includes historical facts and a map of Sudan.

After discovering the body of fourteen-year-old Jawad Ali in Jackson Park, seventeen-year-old journalism student Safiya Mirza begins investigating his murder and ends up confronting white supremacy in her own high school.

In The Home that Was My Country, Syrian-American journalist Alia Malek chronicles her return to her family home in Damascus and the history of the Jabban apartment building. Here, generations of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Armenians lived, worked, loved, and suffered in close quarters. In telling the story of her family over the course of the last century, Alia brings to light the triumphs and failures that have led Syria to where it is today.

"From New York Times bestselling author and beloved Today show co-host Hoda Kotb comes an inspiring collection of quotes--drawn from her own personal favorites featured on her enormously popular Instagram account--that offer wisdom, courage, and hope"-- Several years ago, Today show co-host Hoda Kotb began posting a variety of quotes on her Instagram page. Some were penned by a favorite writer; others offered a dose of love or laughter. She thought...